, '■'.-' m OF THK University of California. GIKX OK Mrs. SARAH P. WALSWORTH. Received October, i8g4. iced this restless people, he returned to Rome, declining, with his usual moderation, the triumphal honors which had been de- creed him on the proposal of Augustus himself The senate was still too numerous a body for the place in the state which Augustus wished it to occupy. He thought he might now venture to make a further reduction in it ; but the difficulties which he encountered were such, that, instead of bringing it down, as he proposed, to three hundred, he was obliged to be content with a house consisting of six hundred members. Even this moderate reduction gave oc- casion to several real or imputed conspiracies against him and Agrippa. To keep up a respectable aristocracy in the state was a favorite object with this prudent prince, who was well aware of the evils of oligarchy and [an ignorant] democracy. It was with this view that he labored to render the senate lim- • Hor. Epist. i. 18, 56; Carm. iv. 15,6. Propcrt. ii. 10; iii. 4,9; 5, 48 ; iv. 6, 79. Ovid, Fast. vi. 647 ; Trist. ii. 1, 228. See also Virg. Mn. vii. 606. Hor. Carm. iii. 5. B.C. 17-12.] FAMILY OF AUGUSTUS. 11 ited in number and respectable in character. As a further means, he most anxiously, both by law and precept, en- couraored marriage amoncr the members of the senatorian and equestrian orders, (73G.) * But the profligacy of man- ners wliicli tiien prevailed was such that all the honors, and rewards, and immunities, which he proposed were of but little avail. A practice was even introduced by which the inten- tion of the laws might be eluded, while the benefits pro- posed by them were attained : it was that of betrothal with infants, to obviate which he enjoined that no betrothal should be valid except in cases where the marriage might be con- summated within the space of two years ; that is, with no child under ten years of age. It was unfortunate for Augus- tus that his own character and conduct save but little weight to his regulations on the subject of matrimony, for he was notoriously unfaithful to his wife Livia. It may be of use to give here some account of the family of Augustus. By his first wife, Scribonia, he had one child, a daughter, named of course Julia; he had no children by Livia, and we hear nothing of any natural children. He first married Julia to his nephew Marcellus, the son of his sister Octavia by her first husband, Claudius Marcellus; and on his death he obliged Agrippa to divorce his wife, who was the sister of Marcellus, and espouse the widow, by whom he had two sons, named Caius and Lucius, both of whom Augustus adopted. By her first husband, Tib. Claudius Nero, Livia had two sons, Tiberius and Drusus, the latter of whom was born after her marriage with Augustus. The former was married to Agiippina, the daughter of Agrippa by his first wife, a daughter of Cicero's friend Atticus. In the 737th year of Rome, Augustus and Agrippa cele- brated with great magnificence the Saccular Games. t Au- gustus then deemed it advisable to absent himself for some time from Rome, and having sent Agrippa to Asia, he pro- ceeded to Gaul on the pretext of the invasions of the Ger- mans requiring his presence ; but some said that his secret motive was the desire of enjoying more freely the society of Terentia, the wife of Maecenas, with whom he had long car- ried on an intrigue. He took with him his stepson Tiberius, and after an absence of about three years, spent in regulating * See Hor. Carra. iii. 6, 17, seq.; iv. 5, 12, seq.; 15, 9, seq.; Carm. ScBC. 17 seq. t They were the fifth that had been celebrated. Dion, liv. 18. Cen- sorin. 17. Horace composed the hymn sung on the occasion. 12 AUGUSTUS. [b. c. 12. the concerns of Gaul, Spain, and the German provinces, he returned to Rome, (741,) and in the following year (742) he assumed the dignity of Pontifex Maximus, now vacant by the death of Lepidus, his former colleague in the triumvirate, whom (though he at all times treated him with studied indig- nity) he allowed to hold that honorable office as long as he lived. Agrippa, who had been all this time in Asia, returned to Rome likewise in 741 ; and Augustus, whose confidence in him never abated, had the tribunitian power conferred on him for another period of five years. He also committed to him the charge of suppressing an expected invasion of the Pannonians. This people, however, when they heard of the approach of Agrippa, laid aside all thoughts of war. He therefore led back his troops, and in the following spring (742) he fell dangerously ill in Campania. Augustus, who was then celebrating the festival of the Q,uinquatrus at Rome, hastened to him, but found him dead. He caused the corpse to be conveyed to Rome, where he himself pronounced the funeral oration over it in the Forum, and then laid his ashes in his own monument, though the deceased had prepared one for himself in the Field of Mars. Agrippa had not completed his fifty-first year when he was thus prematurely carried off.* There are few characters in history more pleasing to con- template than that of M. Vipsanius Agrippa. Born in a humble station, he raised himself entirely by his own merit, and by the honorable fidelity which he always exhibited to the man to whose fortunes he was attached. To prince and people he was equally acceptable : the former viewed in him a sincere friend and an able minister and general ; the latter regarded him as a patron and a benefactor. His wealth, which was immense, t he devoted to the public service, ben- efiting the people and adorning the city. He thus raised at a great expense several aqueducts, particularly that which conveyed -the Aqua Virgo to the Field of Mars, (735.) He adorned (728) the porticoes built round the Septa, in the same place, by Lepidus, with marble plates and with paint- ings, naming them Julian in honor of Augustus. He also built a beautiful portico to the temple of Neptune, and erected the circular temple named the Pantheon, | which still exists. * Plin. N. H. vii. 8. t He owned the entire Chersonese, (Dion, liv. 29 ;) he had also large estates in Sicily (flor. Ep. i. 12) and elsewliorc. t Pliny (N. H. xxxvi. 15) says it was dedicated to Jupiter Ultor. B.C. 11.] FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 13 By his will he left his gardens and the baths named after him to the Roman people. Augustus, who was his principal heir, gave in his name a donation of one hundred drachmas a man to the plebeians. The place of Agrippa was not to be supplied ; but as some one in his station was absolutely necessary to Augustus, he, much against his inclination, made choice of his stepson Tiberius. As he seems to have made it a rule that the per- son next to himself should be the husband of his daughter Julia, he obliged Tiberius to divorce Agrippina, the daughter of Agrippa, to whom he was most sincerely attached, and who had borne him one child and was bearing another, and espouse Julia. He then sent him against the Pannonians, who had resumed their arms when they heard of the death of Agrippa. We will now for some time direct our attention to the foreign relations and military affairs of the empire. Within the limits of the empire the only people who ven- tured to resist the arms of Rome was the Basque population of the mountains in the north of Spain, who, secured by the nature of their country, though often defeated and reduced, were never completely conquered. On the southern frontier in Africa the native tribes gave occasional employment to the governors of the adjoining provinces. In the year 732, the ^Ethiopians, led by their queen Candace, invaded Upper Egypt, and advanced as far as the city of Elephantina; but they were speedily repelled by the governor C. Petronius, who invaded their country in return, and forced them to sue for peace. On the side of Parthia all was quiet during the reign of Augustus ; but the tribes in the vicinity of the Danube and Rhine, who were destined to be Rome's most dangerous foes, even now required the employment of large armies to repel or subdue them, and more than once they sent alarm even into the city. The reduction of Thrace to a province gave occasion to some warfare ; for the native tribes, unused to submission, and defended by the ranges of Rhodope and Haemus, were prone to rebellion. A general rising among them took place in 743; and, after lasting three years, it was at length sup- Dion (liii. 27) would seem to intimate that it was consecrated to Mars and Venus. He thinks that it was named from its resemblance in form to the heaven. The supposition of its being dedicated to all the gods is a modern error. CONTIN. 2 14 AUGUSTUS. [b. C. 11. pressed by the governor L. Piso, who thereby obtained the triumphal honors. The Roman frontier had, in the latter times of the repub- lic, been gradually advanced into Illyricum, the region lying to the north of the Adriatic, and commercial relations were formed with the nations who dwelt farther inland. Their own unquiet spirit, and the arrogance and oppression of the Romans, naturally gave occasion to hostilities. In 73S two of the Alpine tribes, named Cammunians and Venians, took arms ; but they were speedily reduced by P. Silius, the pro- praetor. Immediately after, the Pannonians, aided by the Noricans, invaded Istria; but they were repelled also by Silius, who then carried his arms into Noricum and reduced it. Shortly after, the Rjetians of the Alps, and the Vindeli- cans * who dwelt between them and the Danube, began to make incursions into Gaul and Italy, and they seized and put to death such of the Romans or allies whom they found travel- ling through their country. Augustus committed the task of reducing them to his stepson Drusus, who gave them a de- feat in the hills of Tridentum, ( Trent ;) and, as they still plun- dered Gaul, he caused Drusus's brother Tiberius to attack them on that side; and by the united efforts of the two broth- ers and their lieutenants, the mountaineers were completely brought under subjection.t The more vigorous portion of their male population was carried away, and only those left who were too feeble for insurrection. The Pannonic war already alluded to broke out in 743. It was conducted and successfully terminated by Tiberius, who was decreed for it a triumph by the senate ; but Augustus would only allow him to receive the triumphal ornaments. Drusus was meantime carrying on war in Germany. The Roman dominion having been extended by CiTcsar, the dictator, to the Rhine, the Ubians, Vangionians, and some other Ger- man tribes, | had been induced to cross that river and settle on its left bank, under the protection and authority of the Romans, whose loanners they gradually adopted. The ter- ritory in which they dwelt was hence named the Upper and * Dion (liv. 22) mentions only the RrDtians,but he appears to include the Vindelicans in that name. Tiie Vindelicans are expressly men- tioned by Suetonius, (Tib. 0.) Velleius, (ii. 95,) and Horace, (Carni. iv. 4,180 t See Horace, Carm. iv. 4 and 14. X See Appendix (C.) for an account of the German tribes. B.C. 13-11.] GERMAN WARS. 15 liOwer Germany ; it extended from the modern town of Schlettstadt into the district of Cleves. The Romans had several fortified posts along the Rhine, but they had as yet no footing beyond that river. Tliey had, however, the usual relations of trade and intercourse with the peoples of the op- posite bank. In 729 the Germans murdered some Romans who had gone over in the usual manner into their country. To punish them, M. Vinicius, who commanded on the left bank of the river, led his troops against them, and his successes gained him the honor of the triumplial ornaments. Nothing further occurred till the year 7'3S, when the tribes named Sicambrians, Usipe- tans, and Tencterans, seized and crucified the Roman traders in their country, and then, crossing the Rhine, ravaged Gaul and the Germanies. M. Lollius, tiie legate, led his troops to engage them ; but they laid an ambush for the cavalry, which was in advance, and routed it. In the pursuit they came un- expectedly on Lollius himself, and defeated him, taking the eagle of the fifth legion. The intelligence of this disgrace caused, as we have seen, Augustus to set out for Gaul ; but the Germans did not wait for his arrival, and when he came, they obtained a truce on giving hostages. Augustus remained nearly three years in Gaul. When leaving it, (741,) he committed the defence of the German frontier to his stepson Drusus. His departure imboldened the Sicambrians and their allies to resume hostilities; and as disaffection appeared likely to spread among the Gauls, Dru- sus took care to secure their leading men by inviting them to Lugdunum, {Lyons,) under pretext of the festival which was to be celebrated at the altar raised there in honor of Aucrus- tus : then watching the Germans when they passed the Rhine, he fell on and cut them to pieces, and crossing that river himself, he entered the country of the Usipetans, and thence advanced into that of the Sicambrians, laying both waste, (742.) He embarked his troops on the Rhine and entered the ocean, and sailing along the coast, formed an alliance with the Frisians who inhabited it. His slight vessels, however, being stranded by the ebb of the tide on the coast of the Chaucans, he was indebted for safety to his Frisian allies. He then led his troops back, and put them into winter-quar- ters. In the spring (743) he again crossed the Rhine, and completed the subjection of the Usipetans ; and taking advan- tage of the absence of the Sicambrian warriors, who had 16 AUGUSTUS. [b. c. 10-9. marched against the Chattans on account of their refusal to join their league, lie threw a bridge over the Lippe, (Liipia,) and marching rapidly through the Sicainl)rian country, and entering that of the Cheruscans, advanced as fiir as the Weser, (Visurgis.) Want of supplies, however, forced the Romans to return without passing that river. In their retreat they were harassed by the Germans, and on one occasion they fell into an ambush, where they were only saved from destruction by the excessive confidence of the enemy, who, regarding them as already conquered, attacked them in disorder, and were therefore easily repelled by the disciplined legionaries. Drusus built a fort at the confluence of the Elison and the Lippe, and another in the Chattan country on the Rhine, and then returned to Gaul for the winter. The following year (744) Augustus, on account of the German war, went and took up his abode at Lugdunum, while Drusus again crossed the Rhi^e. and carried on the war against the Sicambrian league, which had now been joined by the Chattans, who became in consequence the principal sufferers. At the end of the cam- paign, Augustus and his stepsons returned to Rome. The next year (745) Drusus passed the Rhine for the fourth time. He laid waste the Chattan territory, whence he advanced into Suevia, which he treated in a similar manner, routing all that resisted him; then entering the Cheruscan country, he crossed the Weser, and advanced till he reached the Elbe, (Albis,) wasting all on his way. Having made a fruitless effort to pass this river, he led back his troops to the Rhine; but his horse having fallen with him on the way, he received so much injury by the fall, that he died before he reached the banks of that stream.* His body was conveyed to Rome, where the funeral orations were pronounced by Augustus and Tiberius, and his ashes were deposited in the Julian monument. The title of Germanicus was decreed to him and his children, and, among other honors, a cenotaph was raised by the army on the bank of the Rhine. Drusus was only in his thirtieth year when he thus met with his untimely fate. He was married to the younger daughter of Octavia by M. Antonius, the triumvir, by whom he had several children ; but only three, Germanicus, Clau- dius, and Livilla, survived their father. The character of Drusus stood high both as a soldier and a citizen ; and it * Livy, Epit. 140. B. C. 8.] LATIN LITERATURE. 17 was generally believed that he intended to restore the repub- lic, il" ever lie should possess the requisite power.* It is even said that at one time he wrote to his brother proposing ^ to compel Augustus to reestablish the popular freedom, but that Tiberius showed the letter to his stepfather.t Some even, in the usual spirit of calumniating Augustus, went so far as to hint that he caused Drusus to be taken off by poison when he neglected to give instant obedience to his mandate of recall, issued in consecjuence of that information. | Death had already (743) deprived Augustus of his sister Octavia, and within two years after the loss of Drusus, he had to lament that of Maecenas, his early friend, adviser, and minister, who died toward the end of the year 746, leaving him his heir, notwithstanding the affair of Terentia. Maecenas was a man in whom were united the apparently opposite characters of the refined voluptuary and the able and judicious statesman. When called on to exert himself in public affairs, no man displayed more foresight, vigor, and activity ; but the moment he could withdraw from them, he hastened to relax into an ease and luxury almost more than feminine. Satisfied with the abundance of wealth which he derived from the bounty of Augustus, and content with hav- ing the power to bestow honors and offices on others, he sought them not for himself, and to the end of his life he re- mained a simple member of the equestrian order in which he had been born. It does not appear, that, like Agrippa, he devoted his wealth to the improvement or ornament of the city ; but he was the patron, and in some cases the benefac- tor, of men of letters ; and while the poetry of Virgil and Horace shall be read, (and when shall it not?) the name of Mscenis will be pronounced with honor by thousands to whom that of the nobler Agrippa will be comparatively un- known. Such is the power of literature to confer everlast- ing renown ! This was in effect the most splendid period of Rome's literary history. Though we cannot concede that literary genius is the creition of political circumstances, yet we may observe that it usually appears synchronously with great po- litical events. It was during the Persian and Peloponnesian wars, that the everlasting monuments of the Grecian muse • Suet. Cbud. 1. Tac. Ann. i. 33. ] Suet. Tib. 50. i Suet. Claud. 1. Tac. Ann. ii. 82. 2* c 18 AUGUSTUS. [b. c. 8. were produced ; and it was while the fierce wars excited by religion agitated modern Europe, that the most noble works of poetic genius appeared in Italy, Spain, and England. So also the first band of Roman poets were coexistent with the Punic wars, and the second and more glorious, though per- haps less vigorous, display of Italian genius rose amid the ca- lamities of the civil wars. The first of these poets in name, as in genius, is P. Vir- gilius Maro, who was born at Andes, a village near Mantua, in G84, and died at Brundisium, in 735. Residing in the coimtry, and fond of rural life, his first poetic essays were pastorals in the manner of Theocritus. In this attempt, how- ever, his success was not eminent ; for though his verse is sweet and harmonious, and his descriptions are lovely, he at- tains not to the nature and simplicity of his Grecian master. He next wrote his Georgics, a didactic poem on agriculture ; and here his success was beyond doubt ; for it is the most perfect piece of didactic poetry that the world possesses. He then made the daring attempt of competing with Homer in the fields of epic poetry ; and though the ^Eneis is inferior in fire and spirit to the Ilias, and possesses not the romance and the domestic charms of the Odyssey, and as an epic must even perhaps yield to the Jerusalem Delivered of modern Italy, it is a poem of a very high order, and one which will never cease to yield delight to the cultivated mind. In thus select- ing Roman subjects, Virgil proved his superior judgment ; and he assumed the place which had been occupied by En- nius, and became the national poet. Q,. Horatius Flaccus, born at Venusium in Apulia, in 689, is distinguished for the graceful ease, mild, philosophic spirit, and knowledge of men and the world,* displayed in his satires and epistles. He had also the merit of transferring the lyric measures of Alcaeus, Sappho, and other Grecian poets, to the Latin language. His odes of a gay and lively, or of a bland, philosophic tone, are inimitable ; in those of a higher flight he has less success, and the appearance of effort may at times be discerned. Horace died in 746, in the same year with his friend and patron Maecenas. • Omne vafer vitium ridenti Flaccus amico Tangit, et admissus circurn prsecoidia ludit, Cailidus cxcusso populutii suspendei'c nasn. Persius, Sat. i. 116 B.C. 8.] LATIN LITERATURE. 19 Albius Tibullus and Sex. Aurelius Propertius wrote love elegies addressed to their courtesan-mistresses under feigned names, such as Nea^ra and Cynthia. The former approaches nearer than any of the ancient poets to modern sentimental- ity ; the latter shows extensive mythologic learning, correct taste, and a degree of delicacy and purity hardly to be ex- pected from an amatory poet of tliat age. Varius, Valgius, Cornelius Gallus, Plotius Tucca, Varro Atacinus, and a number of other poets, wrote at this period. They are praised by their surviving contemporaries, but their works have perished — a proof, perhaps, that their merit was not considerable. They were all imitators of the Greeks. P. Ovidius Naso belongs to the second period of the reign of Augustus, whom, he survived. He was born in 711, at Salmo, in the Pelignian country, and died in 771, in exile, at Tomi, on the Euxine. Ovid was a poet of original genius, which he tried on a variety of subjects. He wrote Heroic Epistles in the names and characters of the heroes and her- oines of Grecian antiquity; love elegies; a didactic poem called the Art of Love ; Metamorphoses ; and a poem on the Roman Fasti. He also composed a tragedy, named Medea, which was much praised by the ancient critics. Grace, ease, and gayety, prevail throughout the compositions of this poet; but he was deficient in vigor, and was too prone to trifle on serious subjects; and in his amatory poetry he was very far from imitating the delicacy of Tibullus and Propertius. Yet, with all his defects, he is a deliglitful poet. The origin of his exile to Tomi in 7C2 is a mystery which can never be un- veiled. He ascribes it himself to two causes, his Art of Love, and his having seen something which he should not see. The epistles written after his exile evince a spirit quite broken, and exhibit little trace of the poet's former powers. The reign of Augustus was also the period of the appear- ance of the eloquent and picturesque history of the Roman republic by T. Livius. Tiiis great historian was born at Pa- dua {Patavium) in 695, and he died in 771, the same year with Ovid. His history (of which the larger and more valu- able part is lost) extended from the landing of ^neas to the death of Drusus in 745. 20 AUGUSTUS. [b. c. 8-6. CHAPTER IL* AUGUSTUS, (continued.) A. u. 746-767. B. c. 8-a. d. 14. TIBERIUS. BANISHMENT OF JULIA. GERMAN WARS OF TI- BERIUS. DEFEAT OF VARUS. DEATH AND CHARACTER OF AUGUSTUS. FORM AND CONDITION OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. Twenty-one years had now elapsed since the return of Augustus, victorious over Antonius, and his assumption of the sole supreme authority in the state. In that period, death had deprived him of his nephew, his nobler stepson, and his two ablest and most attached friends.- His hopes now rested on his two grandsons and adopted sons Caius and Lucius, and their posthumous brother, named Agrippa after their father; on Tiberius, and on the children of Drusus. Caius was now (746) in his thirteenth year ; his brother was three years younger. As they grew up, the characters which they displayed were such as caused pain to their grandfather. They were in fact porplii/rogmiti, (the first that Rome had seen,t) and therefore were spoiled by public and private flattery, and displayed insolence and presumption in their conduct. Though Augustus was fully aware of the defects in the character of Tiberius, he could not avoid as- signing him the place in the state for which his age, and his abilities and experience, qualified him. He had, therefore, on the death of Drusus, committed to him the conduct of the war in Germany ; and, in 746 and the following year, the Roman legions were led by him over the Rhine, but no re- sistance was offered by the Germans. The next year, (748,) Augustus conferred on him the tribunitian power for a period of five years, and appointed him to go to regulate Armenia, where affairs were now in some disorder. | Tiberius, however, had resolved on retiring for a time from public life. The pretext under which he sought permission from Augustus, was a satiety of honors and a longing for * Authorities same as for the preceding chapter, t [That is, t)ie first princes-born ; liaving been 'born since the as- sumption of supreme autliority by Auijustus. — J. T. S.] X Zonaros, x. 35. B.C. l.-A.D. 2.] TIBERIUS. 21 quiet and repose. VVliat he afterwards assigned as the real cause was his wish not to appear to stand in the way of Caius and his brother, who were now growing up to man's estate.* The improper conduct of his wife, Julia, was also given as a reason for his retirement, or his expectation by absence to increase his authority in the state in case his presence should be again required : it was even said that he was banished by Augustus for conspiring against his sons. It was with great difficulty that he obtained permission from his mother and stepfather to put his design into execution. We are told that, to extort it, he menaced to starve himself, and actually abstained from food for four days. When he had thus drawn from them a reluctant consent, he went down privately with a very few attendants to Ostia, and, getting on board a vessel, proceeded along the coast of Campania Hearing that Augustus was taken ill, he halted ; but, finding that his so doing was imputed to a design of aiming at the empire in case of his death, he set sail, though the weather was not very favorable, and proceeded on his voyage to Rhodes. lie had selected this island for his retreat, having been pleased with its amenity and salubrity, when he visited it on his return from Armenia, in the year 735. He adopted a pri- vate mode of life, dwelling in a moderately-sized house, and living on terms of equality with the respectable inhabitants. He was visited in his retreat by all those who were going out as proconsuls or legates to Asia. When Caius Ca?sar was sent out to regulate the affairs of Armenia, (753,) Tiberius passed over to Chios to wait on him. The young man showed him all marks of respect as his stepbrother and elder; but the insinuations of M. Lollius, whom Augustus had given him as a director, soon alienated his mind from Tiberius. The period of his tribunitian power being now expired, Tiberius sought permission to return to Rome, avowing that his motive for quitting it had been the wish to avoid the sus- picion of emulation with Caius and Lucius. As they were now grown up, and were able to maintain their station as the second persons in the state, his absence was no longer requi- site, and he wished to be permitted to revisit his friends and relatives. He, however, received a positive refusal ; and all his mother could obtain was his being named a legate, in order to cover his disgrace. He remained at Rhodes two years longer, when Caius, without whose approbation Augus- * Suet. Tib. 10. Veil. Pat. ii. 99. 22 AUGUSTUS. [a. D. 2-5. tus had determined to do nothing in his case, having quar- relled with Lollius, gave his consent to his recall, lie was therefore permitted to return, but on the express condition of abstaining from public affairs, (755.) During the absence of Tiberius from Rome, the dissolute conduct of his wife, Julia, after having long been generally known, had at length (752) reached the ears of her father. Julia had been unchaste even when the wife of the excellent Agrippa ; some of the noblest men of Rome were among her paramours ; and she had at length become so devoid of shame and prudence as to carouse and revel openly at night in the Forum, and even on the Rostra. Augustus had al- ready had a suspicion that her mode of life was not quite cor- rect ; when now convinced of the full extent of her depravity, his anger knew no bounds. lie communicated his domestic misfortune to the senate : he banished his dissolute daughter to the isle of Pandateria, on the coast of Campania, whither she was accompanied by her mother, Scribonia. He forbade her there the use of wine and of all delicacies in food or dress, and prohibited any person to visit her without his special permission. He caused a bill of divorce to be sent her in the name of her husband, Tiberius, of whose letters of interces- sion for her he took no heed. He constantly rejected all the solicitations of the people for her recall ; and, when one time they were extremely urgent, he openly prayed that they might have wives and daughters like her.* At length, after a period of five years, he allowed her to remove to the town of Rhegium, on the continent, and made her treatment some- what milder. Among the adulterers of Julia was Julus Antonius, the son of the triumvir by Fulvia.t Augustus had treated him with the greatest kindness ; he had given him in marriage the daughter of his sister Octavia, and had conferred on him all the honors and dignities of the state. His ingratitude was therefore without excuse, and he expiated his offence by a voluntary death. | Of the rest, such as Sempronius Grac- chus, Quinctius Crispinus, and Appius Claudius, some were executed and others banished. * Her freedvvoman and confidant Pliccbe Iiaving hunop horself when the discovery was made, Augustus declared that he would sooner have been the father of Phojbe than of Julia. t It was to him that Horace addressed the second ode of the 4th book of his Odes, probably in the year 739. t Veil. Pat. ii. 100. A. D. 6.] GERMAN WARS. 23 It was in his family and his domestic relations that Augus- tus was destined to feel the adverse strokes of fortune. In 755, his grandson Lucius fell sick on his way to Spain, and died at Massalia; and, eighteen months later, (757,) Caius breathed his last in Lycia, as he was on his return to Italy. Augustus had now only one grandson remaining, the posthu- mous child of Agrippa, of the same name with his father. He therefore adopted him and Tiberius on the same day, saying with regard to the latter, " This I do for the sake of the republic." He at the same time made Tiberius adopt Germanicus, the eldest son of his brother Drusus, although he had a son of his own by his first wife, also named Drusus. Tiberius was invested with the tribunitian power for another period of five years, and was immediately despatched to assume the conduct of the German war, which had been going on for the last three years.* In his first campaign, he passed the Weser, and, having kept the field till the month of December, he placed his troops in winter quarters at the head of the Lippe, and returned himself to Rome. In the following campaign, (758,) having received the submission of the Chaucans and broken the power of the Langobards, who were regarded as the fiercest of the German tribes, he advanced to the banks of the Elbe ; while his fleet, having safely circumnavigated the coast from the mouth of the Rhine to that of the Elbe, joined the land army in this river, and aided its operations. The plan of the campaign for the ensuing year (759) was a very extensive one. The people named Marcomans had quitted their original seats, and occupied the country named Bohemum, {Bohemia,) which lay in the heart of the great Hercynian forest. Their prince, named Maroboduus, was one of those men of superior talent, who have so often, among barbarous tribes, evinced the power of mental over corporeal qualities. He had established an undisputed authority over his own nation, and reduced all his neighbors to submission by arms or by persuasion. He maintained a disciplined army of 70,000 foot and 4000 horse ; and, as his southern frontier was little more than two hundred miles from the Alps, it was in his power suddenly to pour a large army even into Italy j and he was always ready to support revolt in the German or Illyrian provinces. Tiberius, a far-seeing statesman, re- solved to anticipate the danger, and prepared to make a com- bined attack on the Marcoman prince. He therefore sent Veil. Pat. ii. 104. 24 AUGUSTUS. [a. d. 6—9. orders to C. Sentius Saturninus to invade Bohemia in the north from the country of the Cattans, while he himself should enter it from the south with the army of lllyricum, which he had assembled for the purpose at Carnuntum, in Noricum. But this extensive plan was frustrated by a formidable in- surrection of the Dalmatians; for this people, who ill bore the weight of tribute imposed on them by the Romans, when they saw the troops that were in their country drawn away for the German war, and at the same time, in consequence of orders given them to prepare an auxiliary force, became aware of their own numbers and strength, at the impulsion of a Dalmatian named Bato, resolved to assert their inde- pendence. The Breucans, a Pannonian tribe, led by another Bato, joined them, and speedily all Pannonia shared in the revolt. We should only weary the reader were we to enter into the details of this war, which lasted for the space of three years, employed fifteen legions and an equal number of aux- iliaries, and was regarded as the most dangerous foreign war that had occurred since the days of Hannibal ; for the seat of it was the confine of Italy; so that Augustus declared openly in the senate, that, if proper measures were not adopt- ed, the enemy might come within view of the city on the tenth day. The Pannonians were also remarkably familiar with the language, arts, and knowledge of the Romans. The forces of the confederates were estimated at 200,000 foot and 9000 horse, under able and active leaders. In order to raise a force sufficient for the war, Augustus was obliged to call out all the veterans, to employ freedmen as soldiers, and to purchase for this purpose able-bodied slaves from their masters and mistresses. To add to his difficulties, Rome was at this time suffering severely from famine. In the conduct of the war, Tiberius certainly proved him- self to be an able general, and his adopted son Germanicus, to whom Augustus had given a command, laid the founda- tion of his future fame. The success of the war was com- plete, the whole country, from the Adriatic to the Danube, and from Noricum to Thrace and Macedonia, being reduced to complete submission, (762.)* * When Bato surrendered and appeared before the tribunal of Tibe- rius, tlie latter asked him why they had revolted. "Yourselves," re- plied he, "are the cause, for you send to your flocks, wolves, and not dogs or herdsmen." Dion, Iv. 33; Ivi. ]6. A.D. 9.] VARUS. 25 Tliis clangorous war was hardly brought to a close, when intelligence arrived of a dreadful disaster which had be- fiillen the Roman arms in Germany. Since the reduction of a part of the country beyond the Rhine, a military force had been maintained in it, and some forts were erected ; the Germans were gradually adopting Roman manners, and ac- customing themselves to Roman institutions. Had they been prudently managed, they might have been civilized and made useful subjects; but the present commander in Germany, P. Quinctilius Varus, who had been governor of Syria, and was therefore in the habit of meeting with a prompt obedience to all his commands, forgetting the difference between un- warlike Syrians and barbarous Germans, began to treat them with rigor, and to impose heavy taxes. Their native spirit was roused, and they secretly formed a plan for deliverincr themselves from the foreign yoke. Their principal leader was Arminius, [Hermann,) son of Sigimer, a Cheruscan prince wlio had long served with the Roman armies, and had ob- tained the freedom of the city and the equestrian rank. The plan adopted being to lull Varus into security, they made a show of yielding the most cheerful obedience to all his com- mands, and thus induced him to quit the Rhine, and advance toward the Weser. Sigimer and Arminius were continually with him; and so completely had they won his confidence, thit when Scgestes, prince of the Chattans, had given him information of the plot, and advised him to seize himself Arminius and the other leaders. Varus refused to believe in it. When all the necessary preparations had been made, some of the more distant tribes were directed to take up arms, in order that Varus might be attacked with more advantatre when on his march to reduce them. Arminius and the others remained behind, under the pretext of raisintr troops with which they were to join him ; and, as soon as he was gone, they fell on and slaughtered the various detachments, which, at their own particular desire, he had stationed in their country; then, collecting a large force, they followed and came up with the legions when in a place suited to their purpose. The Roman army, consisting of three legions, with their requisite cavalry and auxiliaries, in all of upwards of 24,000 men, accompanied by women and children, by wagons and beasts of burden, was advancing without regular order, as in a friendly country. They had reached a place surround- CONTIN. 3 D 26 AUGUSTUS. [a. D. 10-12. ed by hills, and covered with marshes, and with trees, which they were obliged to cut down in order to effect a passage. The weather was tempestuous, and, in the midst of the wind and rain, while they were floundering in the mire, and im- peded by the standing stumps and fallen trunks of the trees, they found themselves assailed on all sides by the Germans. After suffering much from their desultory assaults, they seized a dry spot, where they encamped for the night, having burnt or abandoned the greater part of their baggage. Ne.\t day they attempted to march through the woods ; but the wind and rain still continued, and the persevering enemy gave them no rest. At length Varus and his principal officers, seeing no chance of escape, rather than be taken or slain by the barbarians, terminated their lives with their own hands. The soldiers now lost all courage: some imitated the act of their officers, others ceased to resist, and suffered themselves to be slain or taken ; and, had not the barbarians fallen to plunder, not a man had escaped captivity or death. The legate Numonius Vala* broke away with the greater part of the horse, and made for the Rhine. When intelligence of this calamity arrived at Rome, the consternation which prevailed was extreme. Since the days of Crassus, no such misfortune had befallen the Roman arms. It was feared that the victorious Germans would in- vade Gaul, and even push on for Italy and Rome itself, and there was no army of either citizens or allies on foot to re- sist them. Augustus shared in the general alarm- He rent his raiment in grief; he vowed (what had only been done in the Cimbric and Marsic wars) great games to Jupiter Optimus Maximus, if the state should return to a safer con- dition;! he doubled the guards in the city, and prolonged the command of the governors of the provinces. Finding that none of the men of the military age came forward to enroll themselves, he made them cast lots: and of those under five-and-thirty every fifth, of those over that age every tenth man, was to lose his property and to be infamous. Yet so degenerate were the Romans become, that even this * This is probably the person to whom the fifteenth epistle of the 1st book of Horace's Epistles is addressed. t Any one acquainted witli tlie character of Auirustus will not easily believe, that, accordinjr to the report (frruitt) mentioned by Suetonius, (Oct. 2:1,) and Dion, (Ivi. 2:3,) he let his hair and beard grow for several months, and used to dasli his head against the doors, crying, " Quiiictilius Varus, give back the legions." Augustus, we may observe, was at this time upwards of seventy years of age. A. D. 13, 11.] LAST ILLNESS OF AUGUSTUS. 27 severe measure failed to fill the ranks, and Augustus found it necessary to put some of them to death. He finally took the veterans by lot, and as many freedmen as he could col- lect, and, having thus formed an army, he sent Tiberius in all haste with it to Germany. At the same time, he ordered all the Gauls and Germans at Rome to quit the city, and he removed his German guards to some of the islands off the coast, lest they should revolt.* Tiberius led his army over the Rhine, (763,) but met with no enemies. In the follow- ing year, he and Germanicus again appeared in Germany, but, as before, no opportunity was given for fighting. In 765, Tiberius, with the permission of Augustus, triumphed in the usual manner for the Punnoniarj war. The domestic events of late years had not been numerous. Augustus still was doomed to suffer in his own family. His granddaughter Julia, whom he had married to L. yEmilius Paulus, imitated the profligacy of her mother, and he found it necessary to banish her. Her brother, the young Agrippa, proved of so violent and dangerous a temper, that Augustus, having at first renounced him and placed him in retirement at Surrentum, at length, finding him growing worse every day, had him removed to the isle of Planesia, near Corsica, and a guard of soldiers set over him. The life of Augustus still continued to be menaced by conspiracies. In 757, one was discovered, in which the person chiefly concerned was L. Cornelius Cinna, the grandson of Pompeius Magnus, and of the dictator Sulla. Augustus was long in doubt how to act, for experience had shown him that the execution of those engaged in one plot did not prevent the formation of another. He was finally induced by the arguments of his wife, Livia, to try the effects of lenity. He called the conspirators before him, and, after remonstrating with them, pardoned and dismissed them; and he even made Cinna consul for the following year. The effect of such generosity on the minds of them and others was such, that no plots were formed against him during the remaining years of his life.t * He had had Spanish guards till after the battle of Actium : he then employed Germans. Suet. Oct. 49. t Dion, Iv. 14— 2-i. Seneca de Clem. 1. 9. Suetonius (Oct. 19) mentions various persons who had conspired against Augustus, but ■without giving the dates of their attempts. Such were thnse of M. Egnatius Rufus, (see Dion, liii. 24,) of Plautius Rufiis, and L. Paulus, of Asinius, and of Audasius, a forger, Epicadius, a Parthinian hybrid, 28 AUGUSTUS. [a. d. 14. The year after the triumph of Tiberius, Augustus received the supreme power for a fifth period of ten years. He then invested Tiberius anew with the tribunitian power, and he took a census of the people for the third time. In the fol- lowing year, (TUT,) having sent Gernianicus to command in Germany, he proposed sending Tiberius to regulate the affairs of Illyricum, intending to dismiss him at Beneventum, after they should have assisted at the gymnic games, cele- brated every fifth year in his honor by the people of Neapo- lis. He proceeded by land as far as Astura, and, contrary to his usual habit, he left that place in his litter by night for the sake of the cool air. He was, in consequence, attacked by a complaint in his bowels; but he did not heed it. He went on shipboard, and sailed leisurely along the coast of Campania. He spent four days in the isle of Capreaj, passed then over to Neapolis, and viewed the games. He thence proceeded to Beneventum, where he dismissed Tiberius, and then returned to Nola, growing every day worse and worse. Messengers were sent to recall Tiberius, with whom he is said to have held a long private conference, after which he spoke no more of public affairs.* On the day of his death, he called for a mirror, and had his hair arranged and his cheeks plumped out. He asked those present if they thought that he had played his part well in the drama of life, adding the formula in which actors at the conclusion besought the applause of the audience. He then dismissed them ; and, as he was inquiring, of some who were just come from Rome, after the health of one of Drusus's daugh- ters who was sick, he breathed his last in the arms of Livia, saying, "Livia, live mindful of our marriage, and fare- well ! " t The chamber in which he expired, it may be ob- and of Telephus, a slave. It was the plan of Audasius and Epicadlus to release Julia and Agrippa, and take them to llie armies, and to attack Augustus and the senate. * Veil. Pat. ii. 123. Suet. Oct. 98. Tib. 21. Dion (Ivi. 31) says that the more general and credible account was, tliat he died before tho arrival of Tiberius, but that Livia kept his death secret. Tacitus (Ann. i. 5) leaves the matter uncertain. t l.iivia was accused of poisoning him (Dion, Ivi. 30; Tac. Ann. i. 5) by means of some fresh figs which he gathered with his own hand off the tree, but which she had previously anointed. This, by the way, was odd diet for a man with a bowel com[)l;unt. The reason assigned was, that Augustus had some months before gone secretly to Pbmosia to see Agrippa. We consider charges of this nature to bo entitled to little credit. CHARACTER OF AUGUSTUS. 29 served, was that in which his father had died seventy-two years before. Augustus died on the afternoon of the 19th of August. He wanted little more than a month of completing his seventy-sixth year. Computing from the battle of Actiura, he had exercised the supreme authority in the Roman world for a space of forty-four years.* In person Augus- tus was below the middle size ; his countenance was at all times remarkably serene and tranquil, and his eyes had a peculiar brilliancy. He was careless of his appearance, and plain and simple in his mode of living, using only the most ordinary food, and wearing no clothes but what were woven and made by his wife, sister, and daughters. In all his do- mestic relations he was kind and affectionate; he was a mild and indulgent master, and an attached and constant friend. He was fond of witnessing the sports of the Circus and other public shows, though it may be that he only sought thus to increase his popularity. He also took pleasure in playing at dice, but not for gain, as he did not exact his winnings. The heaviest charge made against him is his in- continence ; but, as we have above observed, this is evident- ly greatly exaggerated. In his public character, as the sovereign of the Roman empire, few princes will be found more deserving of praise than Augustus. He cannot be justly charged with a single cruel, or even harsh action, in the course of a period of forty-four years. On the contrary, he seems in every act to have had the welfare of the people at heart. In return, never was prince more entirely beloved by all orders of his subjects ; and the title. Father of his Country, so spontane- ously bestowed on him, is but one among many proofs of the sincerity of their affection. Nothing, however, is more common with modern writers, than to treat Augustus as a tyrant t who had destroyed lib- * Exactly 44 years minus 14 days. The rei^n of Augustus is also computed by some from tlie death of Ca;sar in 710, = 57> 5"^ 4'' ; by others from his first consulate in 711, = 50' ; or from the triumvirate in 712, = 55-^ 8'" 23' ; or, finally, from his entrance into Alexandria in 724, = 43y 10'. See Clinton ad A. D. 14. t Montesquieu (Considerations, &.c. ch. 13) terms him a rusi tyran. In a note he says that he uses the word tijran in its Greek and Latin sense, signifyinop one who had overturned a democracy. The employ- ment of the term, when thus explained, is not very objectionable. Gibbon (ch. iii.) calls Augustus a crafty tijrant, witliout any limitation of the term. 3* 30 AUGUSTUS. erty, and had raised liis own power on the servitude of his country. But liberty had vanished from Rome long before his time, and surely no friend of mankind would prefer the preceding anarchy to the peace and tranquillity which he introduced and maintained. It was the evil destiny of Rome, not the fault of Augustus, that his successors did not resemble himself; it was necessity, not choice, that made him raise Tiberius to the second place in the state, and his evident desire that his own place should be filled by the noble Agrippa, vouches for his love of his country. In fine, we recognize in Augustus a man of consummate pru- dence,* and of a temperament naturally mild and moderate, raised by the force of circumstances to supreme power, and exercising it for the advantage of those over whom he ruled. The Roman empire, as modelled by Augustus, presented the following appearance: — Augustus himself was at its head, but not in the manner of emperors and kings of ancient or modern times. He was surrounded by no pomp ; no guards attended him ; no offi- cers of the household were to be seen iti his modest dwell- ing ; he lived on terms of familiarity with his friends; he appeared, like any other citizen, as a witness in courts of justice, and in the senate gave his vote as an ordinary mem- ber. His power arose from the union in his person of all the high and important offices of the state. As High Pon- tiff, he had the greatest authority in affairs of religion, and as Censor, the ricrht to regulate the morals of all orders of the people. By possessing the consular power for life, he enjoyed the supreme authority, civil, judicial, and military; and the tribunitian power, with which he was also invested, being in its nature the constitutional check on that of the consuls, his authority was thus without legal control. His titles were. First of the Senate, [Princrps S(natifx,f) which was his favorite one; Augustus and General, [Inipcrator :") that of Master, [Dominus,) when offered to him, he always rejected with indignation. Cajsar was merely his family name. It may have been that Augustus saw the importance of a respectable aristocracy in a monarchy; but it is more prob- * As a general, too, he was extremely cautions. A baltle, he sard, Bhould never be fought, unless the hope of inlvanliige was visibly greater than tlie fear of loss. Tlie contrary conduct lie conipnred to tliat of a man who should angle with gold hooks. Suet. Oct. 25. t Honce the modern term prince. SENATE AND PEOPLE. 31 able that he was under the influence of the love of con- servation of ancient institutions, so strong in tiie ciiaracter of every Roman. At all events, he knew that, if a senate was to remain a part of the constitution, it was necessary that its members siiould possess both character and property. Ilencc, as we have seen, he twice purged the senate,* and, though he did not reduce it as low as he designed, he brought it down to little more than one half of its number at the time when he obtained the sole power, and he raised the qualification for a seat in the house to 121)0 sestprtia.t He required the senate to meet only on the Kalends and Ides of each month, and he excused their attendance entirely in the sickly months of September and October, excepting a committee chosen by lot, in order to make the requisite de- crees. To give greater solemnity to their acts, he directed that each member, before taking his place, should offer wine and incense on the altar of the deity in whose temple the senate sat. The first row of seats at every public show was ordered to be reserved for the senators. Their sons were also allowed to wear the laticlave, or senatorian dress, and to be present at the sittings of the senate; and when they entered the army, they were made at once, not merely tribunes of the legions, but colonels of horse, {prcefecti alarum.) The sena- torian order thus assumed the form of a body of nobility, in the modern sense of the term ; the senate formed a council of state, a high court of justice, and a legislative assembly, in some points resembling the British house of lords, in others the French chamber of peers. In order to give a share of the honors and emoluments of the state to as many of the two higher orders as possible, he devised a great num- ber of new offices; he increased the number of the praetors, and he introduced the practice of making suffect consuls, i. e. consuls in addition to the ordinary ones of the year. J The populace at Rome, in consequence of the civil wars, * He made a trifling purgation in 757, (Dion, Iv. 13.) Perhaps this was tlie occasion of the conspiracy of Cinna in that year. When se- lecting the senate in 736, lie wore, it was said, his sword, and had a corselet under his tunic, and ten of the most able-bodied of his friends stood round his seat, and, according to Cremutius Cordus, no senator was admitted until he had been searched, (Suet. 35.) At this time many plots were said to be formed against him and Agrippa. Dion, liv. 15. I Suet. Oct. 41. \ This was afterwards carried to so great an extent, that in the reign of Comraodus there were 25 consuls in one year. 32 AUGUSTUS. and of its degradation by the enfranchisement of numerous slaves, no longer bore a resemblance to the commonalty of the better days of the republic. It was factious and turbu- lent, and at the same time mean and servile. A body of disciplined troops was therefore always at hand to repress its excesses, and Augustus sought at the same time to keep it in good temper by gifts and entertainments. The greatest care was taken that the supply of corn from the provinces should be regular and abundant. In times of scarcity Au- gustus gave corn gratis, or at a very low price, to the peo- ple; he also frequently made distributions of money (cow- giaria) among them ; and in the Forum, the Circus, the Amphitheatre, the Septa, and other public places, he enter- tained them with shows of all kinds. Sometimes they were assembled to witness the bloody combats of gladiators, or the less cruel contests of wrestlers ; at others they were amused with chariot or foot races, or the hunting and slaughter of wild beasts fetched from various parts of the empire — even the crocodiles of the Nile beinff brought to Rome to gratify the populace with the sight of their expiring agonies. On one occasion, a large lake was dug in the Field of Mars, for the exhibition of a naval combat. At the same time, Augustus endeavored to purify and elevate the character of the people of Rome, by throwing difficulties in the way of manumission, and by granting citizenship very sparingly to strangers.* To adorn and improve the city was another great object with Augustus, and he effected so much by his own exer- tions and the cooperation of his friends, that when dying he could boast that he had found the city built, of brick, and left it built of marble. t Thus he built (72G) a temple of Apollo on the Palatine, with a portico and a library, and a temple of Jupiter Tonans on the capitol. He also made a new Forum with a temple in it of Mars Ultor. Others of his works bore the names of his wife and the other members of his family. Such were the portico of Livia and that of Octavia, the theatre of Marcellus, and the portico and basili- * Suet. Oct. 40. [Tlie idea of" purifying and elevating their char- acter" by such exclusive and untrenerous means as tlirsc, while their lowest propensities were daily fed and nourished by brutal combats such as have been named, savors somewhat of a satire on all th;it is truly pure, and lofty, and noble, in the character of a people. — J. T. S.] 1 /(/. ill. 28. Dion, Ivi. 30. [This was a somewhat more effectual means of elevating their character. It was, at any rate, refining their taste, which is a great step towards elevating character. — J. T. S.] IMPROVEMENTS OF THE CITY. 33 ca of Caius and Lucius. Tiberius built tlie temples of Con- cord and of Castor and Pollux; Marcius Philippus that of Hercules of the Muses; Munatius Plancus that of Saturn; L. Cornificius that of Diana. Asinius Pollio built the hall or court {atrium) of Liberty, and Statilius Taurus a mag- nificent amphitheatre. The works of Agrippa have been already enumerated. To secure the city against inundations, Augustus cleared out and widened the bed of the Tiber. He first divided the city into wards or quarters, (ngioiics,) fourteen in number, and subdivided into streets, (vici,) with officers over them, chosen out of the inhabitants by lot. He established a body of watchmen and firemen to prevent the conflagrations which were so frequent. He caused all the great public roads to be repaired and kept in order. As the confusion and license of the civil wars had, as is usually the case, given origin to illegal associations, and to the formation of bands of rob- bers, (grassatores,) he took every care to suppress them. He therefore, as his uncle had done, dissolved all guilds but the ancient ones, and he disposed guards in proper stations for the prevention of liighway robbery. He caused all the slave- houses [ergastula) throughout Italy to be visited and exam- ined, it having been the practice to kidnap travellers, (free- men and slaves alike,) and shut them up and make them work in these prisons. In order to facilitate the administration of justice, he added upwards of thirty days to the ordinary court-days, and he increased the number of the decuries of jurors, and reduced the legal age of jurymen from five-and- twenty to twenty years. He himself sat constantly to hear causes and administer justice. Every wise sovereign will be desirous to see a proper sense of religion prevalent among his subjects. Augustus accordingly turned his serious attention to this important subject. He rebuilt or repaired the temples which had been burnt or had fallen ; he reestablished and reformed various ancient institutions which had gone out of use, such as the augury of health, the fiamcn dialh, the secular games, the Lupercal rites, &c. He increased the number and the hon- ors and privileges of the priesthoods, particularly that of the Vestal Virgins; he caused all the soothsaying books which were current, to the number of upwards of two thousand, to be collected and burnt, only retaining the Sibylline oracles,* * [For an excellent account of the Sibylline oracles, see Prideaux's Connection of the Old and New Testament, under the year 13. — J. T. S.] E 34 AUGUSTUS. which he had carefully revised and placed in two cases under the statue of the Palatine Apollo. His efforts, however, re- mained without effect ; infidelity and its constant concomi- tant, immorality, were spread too widely for him or any human legislator to be able to check them, and the polythe- ism of Greece and Rome was destined to fall before a far purer system of faith and doctrine. We have already spoken of the exertions made by Augus- tus to overcome the prevalent aversion to marriage. The principal cause of this was the extreme dissoluteness of man- ners at the time, exceeding any thing known in modern days ; but poverty prevented many a man of noble birth from un- dertaking the charge of supporting a wife and family, and the court which was paid by greedy legacy-hunters to the rich and childless * had charms for many of both sexes. The promotion of marriage had always been an object of attention with the Roman government. One of the questions invaria- bly put to each person by the censors was, whether he was married or not ; and there was a fine, named uxorium, laid on old bachelors. Caesar the dictator had sought to encourage marriage by offering rewards; but the first law on the sub- ject was the Julian De rnaritandis ordinibus of 73(5, and, this having proved ineffectual, a new and more comprehensive law, embracing all the provisions of the Julian, and named the " Papia-Poppaean," (from the consuls M. Papius and Q. PoppaBus,) was passed in the year 762.t The principal heads of this law were, 1. All persons ex- cept senators might marry freedvvomen. 2. No maiden was to be betrothed under the age of ten years. 3. Widows were allowed to remain single two years, divorced women a year and a half, before contracting a second marriage. 4. Those who had children were to have various honors and advan- tages, such as better seats at the public spectacles, the pref- erence when candidates for honors and in the allotment of the provinces, immunity from guardianship and other per- sonal burdens, etc. etc. 5. Bachelors could receive no legacies except from their nearest relations, and the child- less only the half of what was left them. 6. A woman whose guilt was the cause of a divorce was to lose her dower. The evil, however, was too deeply seated to be eradicated by law, and it still remained a subject of complaint. Of as * See Horace, Sat. ii. 5. t See Dion, Ivi. 1—10. He remarks that neither of the consuls had wife or child. THE ARMY. 35 little avail was the sumptuary law which he caused to be enacted ; he even failed iu his desire to bring the toga again into general use.* Such were the principal civil regulations made during the reign of Augustus. The changes in the military system were also considerable. In Rome, as in all the ancient republics, the army had been ;i^othing more than a burgher militia, in which every freemwi of the military age was required to serve when called on. jhe long foreign wars, however, in which Rome was afterwrds engaged, gradually converted the original militia into ^Standing army, and war became a profession, as in modern times. The character of the soldier had also deteri- orated since the change in the mode of enlistment made by C. Marius; and the Roman soldiery, further demoralized by the various civil wars, stood no higher in moral worth than the mercenary troops of modern Europe. The extent of the Roman empire, with warlike nations on its frontiers, could only be guarded by a regular standing army, disciplined and always in readiness to take the field. Accordingly, in the speech which Dion ascribes to Maecenas, we find that states- man thus advising Augustus : t " The soldiers must be kept up, immortal, citizens, subjects, and allies, in some places more, in some less, through each nation as need may require, and be always in arms, and always engaged in military exer- cises ; having their winter quarters in the most suitable places, and serving for a limited period, so as to have some part of their life to themselves before old age. For, living so far away from the frontiers of the empire, and having ene- mies dwelling on every side of us, we could not have troops ready for any sudden emergency; but if we allow all Who are of the suitable age, to possess arms and to practise mili- tary exercises, they will be always raising factions and civil wars ; and again, if we prohibit them to do so, and then call upon them to serve on any occasion, we shall run the risk of having none but raw and undisciplined troops. I there- * The lacerna, a kind of military great-coat of a dark color and with a hood to it, was irenerally worn instead of the toga. Augustus one day seeing, as lie sat on his tribunal in the Forum, a number of the people thus habited, cried out in indignation : " En Romanes rerum dominos, gentemque togatam," and gave orders to the sediles henceforth not to admit any one without a toga into the Forum or Circus. Suet. Oct. 40. t Dion, hi. 27. 36 AUGUSTUS. fore give it as my opinion that all the rest should live with- out arms or camps, while the most able-bodied and neces- sitous should be selected and disciplined ; for these will fight the better, having nothing else to occupy them ; and the others can devote themselves more entirely to agricul- ture, navigation, and the other arts of peace, not being called on to serve personally, and having others to protect them ; and that portion of the population which is the strongest and most vigorous, and the most likely to live by robbery, will be supported at its ease, and all the rest will live free from danger." It was therefore determined that the legions should be immo7'tal, i. e. that the army should henceforth be a stand- ing one. The legions were to be twenty-five in number, which we find thus stationed at the time of Augustus's death:* — On the Rhenish frontier eight ; in Spain three; in Africa one; in Egypt two; in Syria four; in Pannonia three; in McEsia two, and two more in Dalmatia for the protection of Italy. Attached to each of these divisions was a body of troops termed auxiliaries, furnished by the different states subject .to, or in alliance with the empire; and, as in the old days of the republic, their number nearly equalled that of the legions. t The legion at this time con- tained ClOO infantry and 726 horse ; the twenty-five legions, therefore, mustered, when complete, 170,000 men; to which adding as many more for the auxiliaries, we have a sum total of 340,000 men. These, however, did not form the whole military force of the empire ; there was a body of 10,000 guards, divided into nine cohorts, named PrjEtorian, and three Urban cohorts, containing GOOO men. J These two last bodies were always recruited in Etruria, Umbria, La- tium, and the ancient Roman colonies. They had double pay, and their period of service was shorter than that of the legionaries. Augustus allowed only three of the cohorts to remain in the city; the rest were distributed through the towns in the vicinity.^ There were two commanders of the * Dion, Iv. 23. Tac. Ann. iv. 5. It is for the ninth year of Tiberius that this last furnishes us with the distribution of the legions given in the text; but there had been no alteration of any account since the time of Augustus. t " Neque multo secus in iis virium." Tac. Ann. iv. 5. t Tac. ut supra. Dion (Iv. 24) says 10 Praetorian and 4 Urban co- horts. § Suet. Oct. 49 ; the three would seem to be the Urban cohorts, thus confirming the numbers given by Tacitus. THE ARMY. 37 Pr?Dtorian guards named prefects ; they were always to be taken from the eejuestrian order. At Ravenna in the Up- per, and Misenum in the Lower Sea, were stationed fleets of galleys, with their due complement of rowers, and each with its legion of marines attached to it; there also laj at Forum Julii, (Frejus,) on the coast of Gaul, a fleet composed of the ships taken at Actium.* Tlie pay of the legionary soldier was ten asses a day; that of the praetorian was douhle; the former had to serve twenty, the latter sixteen years before he could claim his discharge. The former then received a gratuity of 3000, the latter of 5000 denars, answering to the pension of mod- ern times. The pay and rewards of so large an army, the salaries of the numerous public officers, and the otiier indispensable expenses of government, required a considerable revenue. From the time when iEmilius Paulus brought the treasures of Perseus to Rome, the citizens had been free from the payment of the annual tributes or direct taxes hitherto lev- ied, and so often, in the early days of the republic, the cause of seditions. An annual tribute was imposed on every con- quered state; and as the tide of conquest rolled eastwards and westwards, a larger amount of revenue flowed annually to Rome. In the time of Augustus, the annual tributes of Asia, Egypt, Africa, Spain, and Gaul, produced a sum which has been estimated at from fifteen to twenty millions ster- lincr.t Yet even this large revenue did not suffice for the exigencies of the state, and Augustus found it necessary not merely to. continue the port duties, (jjortoria,) or customs which had been imposed by the dictator, but to establish an excise, and to lay on some direct taxes. In all commercial states, at all ages of the world, duties have been levied on imported foreign commodities; they originated, probably, in the mistaken idea, that it was on the foreign merchant, and not on the domestic consumer, that they fell. They were levied at Rome as elsewhere till the * Tac. Ann. iv. 5. Suet. Oct. 49. Vegetius, v. 1. t Gibbon, i. ch. vi. [This sum is just equal to the annual ex- penditure of the British governinent at present, though the British dominions are far more extensive than tliose of Rome in lier most powerful days, and though that e.xpenditure is commonly, and not unjustly, considered to be on a very lavish scale. Hovi' wasteful, then, must have been the expenditure of Rome, for which even this sum did not suffice!— J. T. S.J CONTIN. 4 38 AUGUSTUS. end of the Mithridatic war, when they were abolished ; but Julius Cajsar caused them to be again collected.* They were levied ad valorem by Augustus, and varied from twelve and a half to two and a half per cent. ; articles of luxury, such as the precious stones, silks, and spices, of the East, being, of course, the most highly taxed. The excise was imposed by Augustus chiefly with the view of providing a fund for the payment of the troops ; it was a duty of one per cent, (ccntesima) levied on all articles, great and small, sold in the markets or by auction at Rome or throughout Italy. This not proving sufficient, he imposed (759) a duty of five per cent, on all legacies and inheritances, except in the case of the poor, or of very near relations.! This equitable tax, however, proving very odious to the legacy-hunting nobility of Rome, in order to stop their murmurs, he sent (760) to the senate, requesting them to suggest some less onerous imposition to the same amount ; and when they could not, yet declared that they would pay any thing rather than it, he substituted a property tax, and sent out officers to make an estimate of the property in lands, houses, etc., throughout Italy. This brought them to reason, and there was no fur- ther opposition to the legacy duty.| The treasury of the prince, whence the pay of the army was to issue, was named the Fisc, {Fiscus,) and was distinct from the public treasury, {jErarium,) and managed by dif- ferent officers ; but the distinction was more apparent than real, as both were equally at the devotion of the master of the legions. Such was the form of the Roman empire, as reduced into order, and regulated by the wisdom and prudence of Augus- tus. While the civilized world thus formed one body, ruled by one mind, it pleased the Ruler of the universe to send his Son into it, as the teacher of a religion unrivalled in sublimity, purity, and beneficence, and, which was gradually to spread to the remotest ends of the earth. In the year of Rome 752 by the Catonian, 754 by the Varronian computa- tion, Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem of Judaea.§ * Cic. Att. ii. 16. Dion, xxxvii. 51. Suet. Jul. 43. t Dion, Iv. 25. t Dion, Ivi. 28. § We shall henceforth reckon by the Christian era. A. D. 14.] FUNERAL OB" AUGUSTUS. 39 CHAPTER III.* TIBERIUS CLAUDIUS NERO C^SAR. A. u. 767—790. A. D. 14—37. FUNERAL OF AUGUSTUS. MUTINY OF THE LEGIONS. VICTO- RIES OF GERMANICUS. HIS DEATH. CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF TIBERIUS. RISE AND FALL OF SEJANUS. DEATH OF AGRIPPINA AND HER CHILDREN. DEATH OF TIBERIUS. The death of Augustus was kept secret by Livia and Tiberius till the danger of a disputed succession should be removed by the death of Agrippa Posthuinus. Orders in the name of Augustus were therefore sent to the officer who had him in charge, to put him to death. The orders were forth- with executed; but when the centurion, who was the agent, made his report to Tiberius, according to the usual custom, the latter made answer that he had not ordered it, and that the centurion must account to the senate for it. The mat- ter, however, ended there, for no inquiry was ever instituted. When the death of Augustus was at length made known at Rome, the senate, the knights, the army, and the people, hastened to swear obedience to Tiberius, who had already assumed the command of the army as Impcrator. The body of Augustus was conveyed by night from town to town by the decurions or councilmen of each. At Bovillae it was met by the Roman knights, who carried it into the city, and deposited it in the vestibule of his house on the Palatine. Tiberius, by virtue of his tribunitian authority, convoked the senate to consult about the funeral and the honors to be decreed to the deceased. These, had the real or pretended wishes of the senate prevailed, would have been excessive; but Tiberius set a limit to their adulation, and only con- sented that the senators should carry the body to the pyre. The will of Augustus, which was in the custody of the Ves- tals, was then produced and read. The funeral orations were pronounced by Tiberius liimself and his son Drusus. The body was borne on the shoulders of the senate to the Campus Martins, and there burnt; the ashes were collected * Authorities: Tacitus, Suetonius, and Dion. 40 TIBERIUS. [a. D. 14. by the principal men of the equestrian order, and deposited in the Mausoleum, wliich he had built in his sixth consulate, (720,) between the Flaminian road and tlie Tiber, and sur- rounded with plantations and public walks. An eagle had been let to ascend from the flaming pyre, as the bearer of the soul of the deceased to heaven; and Numinius Atticus, a man of praetorian rank, swore publicly that he saw Augus- tus mountincr to the skies ; for which falsehood Livia gratified him with a gift of 25,000 denars. A Hcroiim was therefore decreed to be raised to Augustus, as to one who had not shared the fate o.f ordinary mortals, but, like Hercules or Romulus, was become a god. By his last will, Augustus had made Tiberius and Livia (whom he had placed in the Julian family, and named Au- gusta) his heirs, the former of two thirds, the latter of one third, of the property which would remain after payment of the numerous legacies which he left. He bequeathed a sum of 43,500,000 sesterces to the Roman people ; to the Pr.-e- torians 1000 sesterces each; half that sum to each of the Urbans, and 300 to each of the legrionaries. He also be- queathed various sums to his friends. He expressly forbade either of the Julias to be laid in his monument when they died. Beside his will, Augustus left three pieces in writing, the one containing the directions about his funeral, another an account of his actions, which he directed to be cut on brazen tables, and set up before his Mausoleum, and a third giving a view of the condition of the whole empire, the number of soldiers under arms, tlie quantity of money in the treasury and fisc, or elsewhere, adding the names of the freed- men and slaves who micrht be called on to account for It. y^' The man into whose hands the supreme power was now (^ transferred, was in character diametrically opposite to Au- \ gustus. Tiberius Claudius Nero, who was by ado])tion a member of the Julian house, was nearly fifty-four years of age. He had exercised all the principal offices in the state, and had commanded armies with reputation. He was fond of literature and science, and of the society of learned men ; b-ut he had all the innate haughtiness of the Claudian fwnily; he was suspected of an inclination to cruelty ; yet so profound was his power of dissimulation, that he had attained to that mature age without his character being generally understood.* * In his first campaigns, tlie soldiers, noticing his love of wine, called him Biberius Caldius Mero. Suet. Tib. 42. A. D. 14.] MUTINY OF THE LEGIONS. 41 His manners and carriage were repulsive and forbidding; he was generally silent, and did not unbend and decline into familiarity. When all due honors had been decreed to Aucrustus, the senate turned to Tiberius, imploring him to assume the su- preme power; but he feigned reluctance, spoke of the diffi- culty of the task, and his own incompetence, saying that, in a state possessing so many illustrious men, such power should not be committed to any single person. This only caused them to urge him the more; they called on the gods and on the statue of Augustus : Tiberius marked the words of each, and for some incautious speakers he laid up future vengeance. At length, yielding as it were to compulsion, he accepted the wretched and onerous servitude, as \\e termed it, until the senate should see fit to grant some repose to his old age. In this affected reluctance, Tiberius, no doubt, was act- ing according to his natural character of dissimulation, and seeking to learn the real sentiments of the leading senators; but he had other reasons and causes of apprehension. He was uncertain how the two great armies, which were stationed in Pannonia and Germany, would act when they heard of the death of Augustus; and he feared lest Germanicus, who commanded the latter, and who was universally beloved, might choose to grasp the supreme power when within his reach, rather than wait for it to come to him by the more tedious course of succession. He did, however, the noble Germanicus injustice; but his suspicions of the legions were not unfounded, for they broke out into mutiny when intelli- gence reached them of the late events. The mutiny commenced in the Pannonian army of three lewions under the command of Junius Bknesus. Tlie soldiers complained of the smallness of their pay and the length of their service, and demanded to be placed on an equality in both these points with the Prajtorians. Blajsus having suc- ceeded, in some measure, in calming them, they selected his own son as their deputy, to lay their grievances before Ti- berius; but when he was gone, the mutiny broke out anew, and they killed one of their officers, drove the rest out of the camp, and plundered their baggage. When Tiberius heard of the mutiny, he sent off his son Drusus with a guard of the Praetorians, and bearing letters to the troops, in which he promised to lay their grievances before the senate, adding that Drusus was authorized to concede at once all that could be granted without a decree of the senate. 4* F 42 TIBERIUS. [a. d. 14. The soldiers received and listened to Drusus with re- spect ; but when they found that he had not in fact the power to grant any of their demands, tliey quitted his tribu- nal in anger. The greatest apprehensions were entertained that they would break out into violence during the night; but an unexpected event altered the whole course of affairs. The moon, which was shining at the full in an unclouded sky, was suddenly observed to grow dim. The ignorant, superstitious soldiers, viewing this as ominous of their own condition, clashed their arms and sounded their horns and trumpets, to relieve the labor of the goddess of the night; and as she still grew darker, they gave way to despair, saying that the gods had declared against them, and that their toils were to have no end. The officers, who had influence with them, took advantage of this disposition, and went about all the night long reasoning with and persuading them. In the morning, Drusus again addressed them, and Blaesus and two other deputies were sent to Tiberius. Meantime Drusus caused some of the most mutinous to be executed. A pre- mature winter, with violent rain and storm, increased the superstitious terrors of the soldiery, and the legions gradually returned to their obedience without even waiting for the answer of Tiberius. The mutiny which broke out at the same time in the Ger- man army was still more formidable. This army, consisting of two divisions of four legions each, was quartered in the Upper and Lower Germany ; the former commanded by C. Silius, the latter by A. Csecina. The commander-in-chief was Germanicus, who was at this time absent, being engaged in taking a census of Gaul. The mutiny commenced in the camp of CfEcina ; the complaints were the same as those of the Pannonian legions, but the soldiers showed themselves more determined and ferocious. They seized their centu- rions, threw them on the ground, beat them nearly to death, and then cast them out of the camp or into the Rhine; they refused all obedience to their superior officers ; they set the guards themselves, and performed all the necessary military duties. Germanicus hastened to the camp ; the soldiers came forth to meet him with all tokens of respect. He entered and ascended his tribunal ; they stood round in their companies. He addressed them; they listened in silence, while he spoke in praise of Augustus and Tiberius, and extolled their own exploits. But, when he began to touch on their late con- A. D. 14.] MUTINY OF THE LEGIONS. 43 duct, they stripped their bodies, showing the scars of wounds and the marks of blows ; tliey enumerated the laborious tasks they had to perform ; the veterans counted up the thirty and more campaigns that they had served. Some called for the money be(iueathed to them by Augustus, and expressed their wishes for Germanicus himsel*' to assume the supreme power. At these words, he sprang down from the tribunal; they opposed his departure with menaces; he drew his sword, and was about to plunge it into his bosom, but those near him caught his hand. Some of the more distant, however, called out to him to strike; and one soldier had the audacity to offer him his sword, saying thnt it was sharper than his own. The rest wore appalled at this daring act, and paused ; and his friends then got Germanicus into his tent. He there deliberated on the state of affairs; and, as it was known that the mutineers were about to send deputies to solicit the legions in Upper Germany, and that the Germans would probably take advantage of the mutiny to cross the Rhine, it was resolved to try to appease them. A letter was therefore written, in the name of Tiberius, giving a total discharge to those who h id served twenty, and a partial one to those who had served sixteen campaigns; and addincr, that they should receive double the sum left them by Augustus. As two of the legions insisted on being paid their money down, Germnnicus and his friends had to supply it from their own private funds. Germanicus then proceeded to the army of Upper Ger- many, in which the spirit of mutiny had been very slight; and, though the soldiers did not ask for them, he gave dis- charges and money as to the other army. On his return to the place named The Ubians' Altar, {Bonn,) where two of the lately mutinous legions wore quartered, he met a deputation from the senate, headed by Munatius Plancus. The soldiers, conscious of guilt, began to fear that they were the bearers of a decree for annulling the concessions which they had extorted by their mutiny; they again broke into a tumult; they assailed the gate of Germanicus's dwelling in the night, and forced him to get up and deliver to them a standard which they demanded.* The deputies (especially Plancus, whom they fancied to have been the proposer of the ob- noxious decree) narrowly escaped with their lives. In the * Tac. Ann. i. 3i). Lipsliis thinks it was the red flag wliich used to be liung out over the gencial's tent as the signal for battle. 44 TIBERIUS. [a. d. 14. morning, Germanicns remonstrated with them on their con- duct, but they listened in sullen silence. He then dismissed the deputies with an escort of horse of the allies ; and, on his friends representing to him the imprudence of allow- ing his wife and young son to remain in a place of so much danger, he resolved to send them to the Trevirians for security. Agrippina, tlie wife of Germanicus, was the daughter of Agrippa and Julia; she was a woman of a high spirit, de- votedly attached to her husband, and of unsullied chastity; and she was now far advanced in pregnancy. Her young son, Caius, had been reared in the camp, and been given by the soldiers the name of Caligula, from his being made to wear the military shoes, which were so called. When, there- fore, the soldiers saw the wife and child of their general, accompanied by the wives of his friends, all weeping and lamenting, about to quit a Roman camp in order to seek the protection of provincials, they were filled with grief and shame, and more especially with envy of the Trevirians. Some stopped them, and insisted on their remaining, while others crowded round Germanicus, who now rebuked them severely for their conduct. They acknowledged their fault, besought him to punish the guilty, to forgive the misguided, to lead them against the enemy, but to bring back his wife and child, and not deliver the nursling of the legions as a hostage to Gauls. He consented to the return of his son, but excused that of his wife, on account of her pregnancy and the approach of the winter. The soldiers were con- tented : they forthwith seized the ringleaders of the mutiny, and draaiied them, bound, before C. Cetronius, the legate of the first legion. They then stood with their swords drawn : each of the prisoners was placed on a bank of earth before the tribunal: if the soldiers cried out, "Guilty," he was thrown down, and they despatched him. Germanicus finally made an inquiry into the conduct of the centurions, and dismissed the service all who were proved guilty of avarice or cruelty. Order beinsf thus restored in these two legions, Germanicus made preparations for conducting a body of the allies against the other two legions, who had begun the mutiny, and were now lying at the Old Camp, {Vcfrra Castra 'Santeu.') He wrote, however, previously, to Ca;cina, to say that, if not prevented by the punishment of the guilty, he would come and make a promiscuous slaughter. Caicina secretly com- A, D. 15.] GERMANICUS. 45 municated this letter to the officers and the sound part of the army, and it was resolved to fall unawares on the mutineers, and slaughter them. The plan was carried into effect, and numbers were thus butchered. Gerinanicus, on coming to the camp, shed copious tears, calling it a massacre, and not a medicine, and ordered the bodies of the slain to be burnt. The soldiers clamored to be led against the enemy, in order, by receiving honorable wounds, to appease the Manes of their comrades. A bridge was hastily thrown over the river, and they advanced some way into Germany, where, falling on the unsuspecting barbarians on the night of one of their solemn festivals, they slaughtered all ages and sexes promis- cuously ; they laid the country waste for a space of fifty miles, levelling all edifices, sacred and profane, alike. Ger- man icus then led them back to winter quarters. Tiberius received the account of the suppression of the mutiny with mingled feelings. He rejoiced that it was at an end, while he was uneasy at the popularity which Germanicus must have acquired by his able and vigorous conduct. He, however, praised him to the senate ; but it was observed that his praises of Drusus, at the same time, though more brief, were more sincere. He gave the Pannonian legions all the advantages which Germanicus had granted to the German army. Early in the spring, (15,) Germanicus led his whole army over the Rhine, and invaded the country of the Chattans, where he wasted the land and slaughtered the inhabitants in the usual manner. Segestes, the Chattan prince, who, as we have seen, through enmity to Arminius, was in favor of the Romans, having sent to apprize Germanicus that he was sur- rounded by his hostile countrymen, who were under the ii - fluence of Arminius, the Roman army was instantly marched to his relief, and he and his family, (among whom was his daughter, the wife of Arminius,) and a large body of his clients, were received under the protection of the Romans, and given a settlement on the left bank of the Rhine. Germanicus led back his army; but Arminius, maddened at the captivity of his wife, went from place to place, rousing the Cheruscans and the conterminous tribes to arms against the Romans. He was joined by his uncle, Inguiomer, a man whose talents the Romans held in the highest respect; and Germanicus, therefore, judging that the war would be very serious, resolved to prevent, if possible, the whole weight of it from falling on one place. With this view, he despatched 46 TIBERIUS. [a. d. 15. Caecina, with forty cohorts, through the Briicterian country, to the River Ems, {Amisia,) while the prefect Pedo led the cavalry through the country of the Frisians; and he himself, putting four legions on shipboard, sailed through the lakes. The whole force rendezvoused on the Ems, and all the coun- try between it and the Lippe was laid waste. As the Teutoburg forest, in which Varus and his legions had been slaughtered, was at hand, Germanicus resolved to proceed thither, and render the last honors to the slain. On arriving at the fatal spot, the Romans found the camp of Varus bearing evidence of the fate of the army : around lay whitening the bones of men and horses; broken weapons strewed the ground ; human heads were fixed on trunks of trees; the altars, at which the officers had been sacrificed, stood in the adjoining woods. The soldiers mournfully col- lected the bones of their comrades, and raised a mound over them, Germanicus himself laying the first sod. The jealousy of Tiberius was offended at this popular act, which, he said, tended to damp the spirit of the soldiers. The Romans, on their return to the Ems, were fallen on, in their march through the woods and marshes, by Arminius, and narrowly escaped a defeat. Germanicus then reembarked bis legions, sending the cavalry, as before, round the coast. He charged Caecina to make all the speed he could to get beyond the Long Bridges, as a causeway was named which the Romans had some years before constructed in the exten- sive marshes which lay not far from the Ems. Caecina ac- cordingly advanced with rapidity, but the speed of Arminius exceeded his ; and, on arriving at the Bridges, he found the woods all occupied by the Germans. He also, to his nior- t.-'ication, saw that the causeway had become so decayed with time, that it must be repaired before the army could pass it ; he therefore resolved to encamp on the spot. The Germans assailed the Romans as they were engaged in forming their camp, and the legions were saved from de- struction only by the intervention of night. As there was now little chance of their being able to pass by the Bridges, Caecina saw that his only course was to endeavor to force his way through a narrow plain, which lay between the marshes and the hills occupied by the enemy. After passing a miserable night, the army set out at dawn; but the two le- gions, which were appointed to cover the flank of the line of march, disobeyed orders, and pushed on for the dry ground; and Arminius, waiting till he saw the Romans completely en- A. D. 16.] VICTORIES OF GERMANICUS. 47 gaged in the marshes, charged the unprotected line, and broke it. The horses were the chief object of attack .: and, pierced by the long spears of the Germans, they fell, and flung their riders, or, rushing on, trampled on those before them ; Cajci- na's own horse was killed under him, and he was near being taken by the enemy. Fortunately for the Romans, the bar- barians, in their usual manner, fell to plundering, and, at the approach of evening, they succeeded in reaching the dry ground. Here they were obliged to encamp, but most of their implements were lost; they were without tents, they had no dressings for their wounded, and their provisions were all spoiled ; they, however, succeeded in securing them- selves for the nisrht. A horse having got loose in the night, the soldiers fancied that the Germans had broken into the camp ; and they were preparing to fly for their lives, when Caecina, having ascer- tained that the alarm was groundless, called them together, and showed them that their only chance of safety was to re- main within their ramparts till the enemy should assail them, and then to break out and push on for the Rhine. The horses, not excepting his own, were then given to the bravest men, who were to be the first to charge the enemy. The Germans, on their part, were also deliberating how to pro- ceed ; Arminius was for letting the Romans quit their camp unmolested, and assailing, as before, their line of march; but Inguiomer insisted on storming the ramparts, as there would then be more captives made, and the plunder would be in better condition. His opinion prevailed, and a general assault was made at daybreak. But, while the Germans were scaling the ramparts, the signal was given to the co- horts, the trumpets sounded, and the assailants found them- selves attacked in the rear. They made but a feeble resist- ance ; they were slaughtered in heaps all through the day by the legionaries, who next morning pursued their march unmolested for the Rhine. Germanicus resolved to conduct the next campaign (16) on different principles from the preceding ones. He had observed that, in consequence of the nature of the country, abounding in forests and morasses, the loss of men and horses in an invasion of Germany was immense; whereas, if the in- fantry were conveyed thither by sea, and the horse led round the coast, the campaign might be begun earlier, and the troops be exposed to less toil and danger. He therefore caused a multitude of vessels of all descriptions to be built 48 TIBERIUS. [a. d. 16. in various places, and appointed the isle of the Bntavians as the place of rendezvous and embarkation. When all was ready, he put the Roman army of eight legions and their at- tendant auxiliaries on board of a fleet of about 1000 vessels, of all forms and sizes, and, sailing up the Rhine, through the lake, and along the coast of the ocean, entered the mouth of the Ems, where having landed his troops, he advanced to the Weser. On reaching that river, he found its opposite bank occupied by Arminius and the Cheruscan warriors. He, however, forced the passage, and, the Germans having given him battle in a plain encompassed by hills on one side, on the other by the river, they were routed with great slaughter, the oTound for a space of ten miles being covered with their arms and bodies. Undismayed by their reverses, they fell once more on the Romans, as they were marching through a narrow, marshy plain, hemmed in by woods and the river; but success was once more on the side of discipline and supe- rior arms, and Germanicus, in the inscription which he put on a pile of the armor of the vanquished Germans, could boast of having conquered all the nations between the Rhine and the Elbe. As the summer was now far advanced, he sent a part of his army to their winter quarters by land ; he himself embarked with the remainder in the Ems ; but, when they got into the open sea, they were assailed by a furious tempest ; some of the vessels were driven on the German coast, others on the adjacent islands, others even to Britain ; and the loss of horses and baggage was immense. When the storm was over, the ships which had escaped were repaired without de- lay, and sent to search the islands, and bring off the men who had been cast away on them. Germanicus and his officers were decidedly of opinion that one campaign more would end the war, and complete the subjugation of Germany; but the jealousy of Tiberius would not let him permit Germanicus to reinain longer at the head of so large an army ; and he urged him to return to Rome to celebrate the triumph which had been decreed him, offering him, as an inducement, a second consulate. Germanicus, though he saw through his motives, yielded obedience to his wishes ; and thus finally terminated the projects of the Romans for conquest in northern Germany.* * The gallant Arminius afterwards engaged in war with and defeat- ed Maroboduus. He finally perished by the treachery of his relations, being charged with aiming at royalty. Tacitus (ii. 88) gives him the following encomium : " Liberator hand dubie Germanise, et qui non A. D. 17-19.] DEATH OF GERMANICUS. 49 On his return to Rome, (17,) Germanicus celebrated his triumph over the Chattans, Cheruscans, and Angivarians. Tiberius gave in his name a donation to the people of 300 sesterces a man, and nominated him his colleague in the consulate for the ensuing year. As, about this time, the kings of Cappadocia, Commagene, and Cilicia, were dead, and the affairs of Armenia were in their usual disorder, and Syria and Judica were applying for a diminution of their burdens, Tiberius, who did not wish to let Germanicus re- main at Rome, or who, as some suspected, had designs on him which could best be accomplished at a distance, took advantage of this occasion for removing him ; by a decree of the senate, he was therefore assigned the provinces beyond the sea, with an authority, when in any of them, paramount to that of its actual governor. Tiberius at the same time removed Silanus, the governor of Syria, whose daughter was affianced to Gcrmanicus's son, and appointed in his place Cn. Piso, a man of a fierce and violent temper, and whose wife, Plancina, a haughty and arrogant woman, was the intimate friend of Livia. It was suspected that they were selected as fit agents for the execution of some secret design against Germanicus. After visiting his brother Drusus, who held the command in Illyricum, and with whom he was always on the most cordial terms, Germanicus proceeded to Greece, (18,) whence he passed over to Asia, where he invested Zeno, son of the king of Pontus, with the diadem, and reduced Commagene and Cappadocia to the form of provinces. He thence (19) proceeded to Egypt, urged chiefly by the laudable curiosity of viewing the wonders of that land of mystery. On his return to Syria, he fell sick, and it was suspected that the cause of his disease was poison, privily administered by Piso and Plancina, with whom he was now at open enmity : Germanicus himself was of this opinion, and he therefore sent Piso orders to quit the province. The disease, however, proved fatal, and he died shortly after, with his last breath charging his friends to appeal to his father, brother, and the senate, for punishment on Piso and Plancina, as the authors of his death. primordia Pop. Rom. sicut alii reges ducesque, sed florenlissimum im- periuin lacessierit ; praeliis ambiguus, bello non victus; xxxvii. annos vittE, xii. potentifE explevit; canitur adliuc barbaras apud gentes; GrtEcorum annalibus ignotus, qui suatantum mirantur ; Romanis baud perinde Celebris, dum Vetera extoUinius recentium incuriosi." CONTIN. 5 G 50 TIBERIUS. [a. d. 20. Such was the end of the noble Germaiiicus, in the tliirty- fourth year of his age. Unlike the Claudian family, from which he sprang, he was mild, affable, and clement in tem- per. Not content with military glory, he sought fame also in the peaceful fields of literature.* lie was a faithful husband, an affectionate parent, a constant friend ; in fine, both in public and private virtues, he has few superiors ia the pages of history. After the death of Germanicus, a consultation was held, by such of the senators as were present, on the subject of the government of the province of Syria, now vacant, and it was resolved to commit it to Cn. Sentius. Meantime Piso, who was at Cos when the news of the death of Germanicus reached him, consulted as to what he should do. His son urged him to pursue his journey to Rome without a mo- ment's delay ; but one of his friends, Domitius Celer, advised him to return to Syria, and wrest the government of it from Sentius. Piso adopted this last course ; but, failing in his attempts to seduce the legions, he was besieged by Sentius in a castle on the coast of Cilicia, and surrendered on con- dition of being allowed to proceed to Rome. Agrippina had already (20) reached the city with the urn which contained the ashes of her illustrious husband. The mourning of the people was universal and sincere ; but the honors of the dead were limited by the jealousy of Tiberius. When Drusus, after the funeral, returned to Dalmatia, he was visited by Piso, who hoped to gain his protection ; but, failing in his object, he had to proceed to Rome, where the friends of Germanicus made no delay in exhibiting articles of accusation against him. The cause was referred by Ti- berius to the senate. All the charges but that of poisoning were proved ; and Piso, seeing Tiberius, the senate, and the people, equally hostile to him, sought a refuge from ignominy in a voluntary death. Plancina was acquitted through the influence of Augusta, at whose desire Tiberius himself be- came her intercessor. Before we proceed to notice the internal affairs of the empire during the early part of the reign of Tiberius, we will mention briefly the slight military movements on the frontiers. In Africa a Numidian named Tacfarinas, who had served in the Roman army, and had then become a freebooter, and • The Fasti of Ovid are dedicated to this prince. A. D. 21.] MILITARY MOVEMENTS. f)! gradually collected a good body of men, being joined by a Moorish chief named Ma/.ippa, began to lay waste and plunder the province, (17.) Tlie proconsul Furius Camillus led the Roman troops out against them ; Tacfarinas had tho courage to give him battle, but his Numidians were easily routed ; the triumphal insignia were decreed to Camillus, who, as the historian observes, was the first of his family, since the time of the great Camillus and his son, who had acquired military glory. Tacfarinas continued to harass tho province by his incursions for some years ; at length (24) he was defeated and slain by the proconsul P. Dolabella. The trifling commotions which took place in Thrace, and were easily repressed, are not deserving of particular notice; but an insurrection which broke out in Gaul (21) threatened to be of serious consequence. The origin of it was the heavy weight of debt caused by the excessive amount of the tributes, to meet which the states were obliged to borrow money from the wealthy men nt Rome on enormous interest; to which were added the pride and severity of the Roman governors. The heads of the revolt were Julius Florus, a Trevirian, and Julius Sacrovir, an JLduan, both men of great influence, and whose ancestors had been honored with the Roman right of citizenship. The people of Anjou and Touraine were the first to rise, but they were easily put down ; Sacrovir, who had not yet declared himself, fighting on the occasion in the Roman ranks. Florus, with his Tre- virians, occupied the forest of Ardenne, {Arduenna ;) but his unorganized rabble was easily dispersed by a party under Julius Indus, another Trevirian, who was at enmity with him; and he slew himself to escape captivity. Sacrovir meantime seized on Autun, {Aiigin^toclumim ,) the capital of the iEduans, where most of the young nobility of Gaul were placed for the purpose of education, in order that he might thus draw their parents and relations in to share in the war. He collected 40,000 men, only a fifth of whom were completely armed : with these he gave battle to the Roman legions ; and, being defeated, he fled with a few companions to a country-house near Autun, where he put an end to himself The Gallic war was thus terminated, and the em- pire remained at peace during the remainder of the reign of Tiberius. It is now time that we should trace the conduct of tbi.s wily prince during the period of which we have related the military transactions. 52 TIBERIUS. [a. D. 21. All the historians are agreed that he both disliked and feared Germanicus, and that it was the awe in which he stood of that favorite of the soldiery and the people that caused him to act with so much moderation in his first years, in which there is really little to reprehend. His plan was to possess the reality of power without ex- citing hatred or envy by the useless display of the show of it. He therefore rejected the titles that were offered him, such as that of Imperator, as a pra;nomcii, and that of Father of his Country ; even that of Augustus, though hereditary, he would only use in his letters to kings and dynasts : above all, he rejected that of Master, [Dominiis;) he would only be called Caesar, or First of the Senate. This last (which we shall henceforth term Prince) was his favorite title : he used to say, " I am the Master of my slaves, the Imperator of the soldiers, and the Prince of the rest." He would not allow any thing peculiar to be done in honor of his birthday, nor suffer any one to swear by his fortune ; neither would he permit the senate to swear to his acts on new year's day, or temples, or any other divine honors, to be decreed him. He was affable and easy of approach; he took no notice of libels and evil reports of which he was the object, while he re- pelled flattery of every kind. To the senate and the magistrates he preserved (at least in appearance) all their pristine dignity and power. Every matter, great or small, public or private, was laid before the senate. The debates were apparently free, and the prince was often in the minority. He always entered the senate- house without any attendants, like an ordinary senator ; he reproved consulars in the command of armies for writing to him instead of the senate; he treated the consuls with the utmost respect, rising to them and making way for them. Ambassadors and deputies were directed to apply to them, as in the time of the republic. It was only by his tribiinitian riirht of intercedins that he exercised his power in the sen- ate. He used also to take his seat with the magistrates as they were administering justice, and by his presence and authority gave a check to the influence of the great in pro- tecting the accused ; by which conduct of his, while justice gained, liberty, it was observed, suffered.* The public morals and the tranquillity of the city were * " Sed dum veritati consulitur liberlas corrumpebatur." Tac. Ann. i. 75. k. D. 21.] CONDUCT OF TIBERIUS. 53 also attended to. A limit was sot to the expenses of plays and public shows, and to the salaries of the players, to whom the senators and knights were forbidden to show marks of respect, by visiting them or attending them in public. Profligacy had become so bold and shameless, that ladies were known to have entered themselves in the list of professed courtesans in order to escape the penalties of the law, and young men of family to have voluntarily submitted to the mark of infamy in order to appear with safety on tne stage or the arena; both these infamous classes were now subjected to the pen- alty of exile. Astrologers and fortune-tellers were expelled the city ; the rites and ceremonies of the Egyptian and Judaic religions were suppressed. Guards were placed throughout Italy to prevent highway robbery; and those refuges of villany of all kinds, the sanctuaries, were regu- lated in Greece and Asia. Yet people were not deceived by all this apparent regard for liberty and justice ; for they saw, as they thought, from the very commencement, the germs of tyranny, especially in the renewal of the law of treason, {majestas.) In the time of the republic, there was a law under this name, by which any one who had diminished the greatness (majesfas) of the Roman people by betraying an army, exciting the plcbs to sedition, or acting wrong in command, was subject to pun- ishment. It applied to actions alone ; but Sulla extended it to speeches,* and Augustus to writings against not merely the state, but private individuals, on the occasion of Cassius Severus having libelled several illustrious persons of both sexes. Tiberius, who was angered by anonymous verses made on himself, directed the praetor, when consulted by him on the subject, to give judgment on the law of treason As this law extended to words as well as actions, it opened a wide field for mischief, and gave birth to the vile brood of Delators, or public informers, answering to the sycophants, those pests of Athens in the days of her democratic despot- ism. This evil commenced almost with the reign of Ti- berius, in whose second year two knights, Falonius and Rubrius, were accused, the one of associating a player of infamous character with the worshippers of Augustus, and of having sold with his gardens a statue of that prince, the other of having sworn falsely by his divinity. Tiberius, however, would not allow these absurd charges to be en- * Cic. ad Fam. iii. 11. 54 TIBERIUS. [a. d. 22. tertained. Soon after, Granius Marcellus, the prjclor of Bithynia, was charged with treason hy his qutestor, Ca;pio Crispinus, for having spoken evil of Tiberius, having placed his own statue on a higher site than that of the Caesars, and having cut the head of Augustus off a statue, to make room for that of Tiberius. This last charge exasperated Tiberius, who declared that he would vote himself on the matter; but a bold expression used by Cn. Piso brought him to reason, and Marcellus was acquitted. After the death of Germanicus, Tiberius acted with less restraint; for his son Drusus did not possess the qualities suited to gain popularity, and thus to control him. In fact, except his affection for his noble adoptive brother, there was nothinor in the character of Drusus to esteem'. He was addicted to intemperance, devoted to the sports of the am- phitheatre, and of so cruel a temper, that a peculiarly sharp kind of swords were named from him Drusians. Tiberius made him his colleague in the consulate,* and then obtained for him the tribunitian power, (22;) but Drusus was fated to no long enjoyment of the dignity and power thus con- ferred on him. A fatal change was also to take place in the conduct and government of Tiberius himself, of which we must now trace the origin. Seius Strabo, who had been made one of the prjefects of the prEBtorian cohorts by Augustus, had a son, who, having been adopted by one of the iElian family, was named, in the usual manner, L. iElius Sejanus. This young man, who was born at Vulsinii in Tuscany, was at first attached to the service of Caius Caesar, after whose death he devoted himself to Tiberius; and such was his consummate art, that this wily prince, dark and mysterious to all others, was open and unreserved to him. Sejanus equalled his master in the power of concealing his thoughts and designs; he was daring and ambitious, and he possessed the requisite (junlities for attaining the eminence to which he aspired ; for, though proud, he could play the flatterer; he could, and did, assume a modest exterior, and he had vigilnnce and industry, and a body capable of enduring any fatigue. When Drusus was sent to quell the mutiny of the Panno- nian legions, Sejanus, whom Tiberius had made colleague " Dion (Ivii. 20) says that people forthwith prophesied the ruin of Drusus ; for it was observed tliJit every one who liad been Tiberius's colleajrue in ihr- consulate came tea violent end, as Quinctilius Varus, Cn. Piso, Germanicus, and aflerwards Drusus and Sejanus. A. D. 23.] RISE OF SEJANUS. 55 with his father, Strabo, in the command of the praetorians, accompanied him as his governor and director. Strabo was afterwards sent out to Egypt, and Sejanus was continued in the sole command of tjie guards; he then represented to Tiberius how much better it would be to have them col- lected into one camp, instead of being dispersed through the city and towns, as they would be less liable to be corrupted, would be more orderly, and of greater efficiency if any in- surrection should occur. A fortified camp was therefore formed for them near the Viminal gate; and Sejanus then hec-an to court the men, and he appointed those on whom he could rely to be tribunes and centurions. While thus securinor the guards, he was equally assiduous to gain parti- sans in the senate ; and honors and provinces only came to those who had acquired his favor by obsequiousness. In all these projects he was unwittingly aided by Tiberius, who used publicly to style him " the associate of his labors; " and even allowed his statues to be placed and worshipped in tem- ples and theatres, and among the ensigns of the legions. Sejanus had, in fact, formed the daring project of destroy- ing Tiberius and his family, and seizing the supreme power. As, beside Tiberius and Drusus, who had two sons, there were a brother and three sons of Germanicus living, he re- solved, as the safer course, to remove them gradually by art and treachery. He began with Drusus, against whom he had a personal spite, as that violent youth had one time pub- licly given him a blow in the face. In order to effect his purpose, he seduced his wife, Livia, or Livilla, the sister of Germanicus; and then, by holding out to her the prospect of a share in the imperial power, he induced her to engage in the plan for the murder of her husband.* Her physician, Eudemus, was also taken into the plot ; but it was some time before the associates could finally determine what mode to adopt. At length a slow poison was fixed on, which was administered to Drusus by a eunuch named Lygdus; and he died apparently of disease, (23.) Tiberius, who, while his son was lying dead, had entered the senate-house, and ad- dressed the members with his usual composure, pronounced the funeral oration himself, and then turned to business for consolation. So far, all had succeeded with Sejanus, and death carried off the younger son of Drusus soon after his father; but • " Neque femina, amissa pudicitia, alia abnuerit," observes Tacitus. 56 TIBERIUS. [a. d. 25. Nero and Drusus, the two elder sons of Germanicus, were now growing up ; and the chastity of their mother, and the fidelity of those about them, put poison out of the question. He therefore adopted another course ; and, taking advantage of the high spirit of Agrippina, and working on the jealousy of her which Augusta was known to entertain, he manacred so that both she and Livia should labor to prejudice Tibe- rius against Agrippina by talking of the pride which she took in her progeny, and the ambitious designs which she entertained. At the same time, he induced some of those about her to stimulate her haughty spirit by their treacher- ous language. He further proposed to deprive her of sup- port, by destroying those persons of influence who were attached to her family, or the memory of her husband. With this view, he selected for his first victims C. Silius and Titius Sabinus, the friends of Germanicus, and Silius's wife, Sosia Galla, to whom Agrippina was strongly attached, and who was therefore an object of dislike to Tiberius. Omitting, however, Sabinus for the present, he caused the consul Visellius Varro to accuse Silius of treason, for having dissembled his knowledge of the designs of Sacrovir, havinsr disgraced his victory by his avarice, and countenanced the acts of his wife. Having vainly asked for a delay till his accuser should go out of office, and seeing that Tiberius was determinedly hostile to him,* Silius avoided a condem- nation by a voluntary death. His wife was banished; a portion of his property was confiscated, but the remainder was left to his children. Urged by his own ambition, and by the importunity of Livia, Sejanus had soon (25) the boldness to present a pe- tition to Tiberius, praying to be chosen by him for her hus- band. Tiberius took no offence; his reply was kind, only stating the difficulties of the matter with respect to Sejanus himself, but at the same time expressing the warmest friend- ship for and confidence in him. S(;janus, however, was suspicious; and he began to reflect that, while Tiberius re- mained at Rome, many occasions might present themselves to those who desired to undermine him in the mind of that jealous prince; whereas, could he induce him to quit the i * " Adversatus est Cnesar, solitum quippe magislratibus diem priva- tis dicorc; noc infringen(ium consulis jus, cujius viijiliia nitiretur ne quod respulilica dctrinientuin caperel. I'ropriuin id Tiberio fuit sce- lera nuper reperta priscis verbis obtegere." Tac. A. D. 25.] SPEECH OF CREMUTIUS. 57 city, all access to him would be only through himself, all letters would be conveyed by soldiers who were under his orders, and gradually, as the prince advanced in years, all the affairs of the state would pass into his hands. He there- fore, by contrasting the noise and turbulence of Rome with the solitude and tranquillity of the country, gradually sought to bend him to his purpose, which he effected in the follow- ing year. During this time, the deadly charge of treason was brought against various persons. The most remarkable case was that of A. Cremutius Cordus, the historian. He had made a free remark on the conduct of Sejanus; and, accordingly, "\wo of that favorite's clients were directed to accuse him of treason, for having in his history called Cassias the last of the Ro- mans.* Cremutius, when before the senate, observing the sternness of Tiberius's countenance, took at once the resolu- tion of abandoning life, and therefore spoke as follows: — " Fathers, my words are accused, so guiltless am I of acts ; but not even these are against the prince or the prince's parent, whom the law of treason embraces. I am said to have praised Brutus and Cassius, whose deeds, while several have written, no one has mentioned without honor. Titus Livius, who is preeminent for eloquence and fidelity, extolled Pompeius with such praises, that Augustus used to call him a Pompeian ; nor was that any hinderance of their friendship. He nowhere calls Scipio, Afranius, this very Cassius, this Brutus, robbers and parricides, which names are now given them ; he often speaks of them as distin- guished men. The writings of Asinius Pollio transmit an illustrious record of them ; Messala Corvinus used to call Cassius his general ; and both of them flourished in wealth and honors. To the book of Marcus Cicero, which extolled Cato to the skies, what did the dictator Csesar but reply in a written speech, as if before judges 1 The letters of Anto- nius, the speeches of Brutus, contain imputations on Augus- tus which are false, and written with great bitterness. The verses of Bibaculus and Catullus, which are full of abuse of the Caesars, are read; nay, the divine Julius himself, the divine Augustus himself, both bore with them and let them remain; I cannot well say whether more through modera- tion or wisdom ; for what are despised go out of mind ; if * He probably only used the words of Brutus, who spoke thus of Cassius. See Hist, of Rome, p. 459. H 58 TIBERIUS. [a. d. 26. you are angry with them, their truth seems to be acknowl- edged. I speak not of the Greeks, among whom not only liberty but license was unpunished ; or if any one did take notice, he avenged himself on words by words. But there was the greatest freedom, and no reproach, when speaking of those whom death had removed from enmity or favor. Do I, in the cause of civil war, inflame the people by my harangues, while Brutus and Cassius are in arms, and occu- pying the plains of Philippi? Or do they, who are now dead these seventy years, as they are known by their images, which the conqueror did not destroy, retain in like manner their share of memory in literary works? Posterity allots his meed to every one ; nor, should a condemnation fall on me, will there be wanting those who will remember not only Brutus and Cassius, but also me." Having thus spoken, Cordus left the senate-house, and, returning to his own abode, starved himself to death. The senate decreed that the copies of his work should be col- lected and burnt by the fediles ; but some were saved by his daughter Marcia, and were republished in the succeeding reign.* _ _ - At length, (26,) Tiberius quitted Rome, and went into Cam- pania, under the pretext of dedicating a temple to Jupiter at Capua, and one to Augustus at Nola ; but with the secret intention of never returninor to the citv. Various causes, all perhaps true, are assigned for this resolution. The sug- gestions of Sejanus were not without effect; he was grown thin, and stooped ; he was quite bald, and his face was full of blotches and ulcers, to which he was obliged to have plasters constantly applied; and he may therefore have sought, on this account, to retire from the public view. It is farther said that he wished to escape from the authority of his mother, who seemed to consider herself entitled to share the power which he had obtained through her exer- tions ; but perhaps the most prevalent motive was the wish to be able to give free course to his innate cruelty and lusts when in solitude and secrecy. He was accompanied only by one senator, Cocceius Ner- * See Sen. Cons, ad Marciam; Suet. Cal. IG. "Quo maafis socor- diam [i. e. vecordiam] eorum inridcre licft," observes Tacitus, " qui prcBsenti potentia creilunt o.xtinirui posse eliam soquontis wvi niemori- am ; niim contra, punitis injreniis gliscit auctoritns ; neque aliud ex- tern! rcges, aul qui eadein smvitia usi sunt, nisi dedecus sibi atque illis gloriam peperere." A. D. 27.] TIBERIUS IN CAMPANIA. 59 va, who was deeply skilled in the laws, by Sejanus and another knight, and by some persons, chiefly Greeks, who were versed in literature. A few days after he set out, an accident occurred, which was near being fatal to him, but proved fortunate for Sejanus. As, at one of his country- seats, near Fundi, named the Caverns, [Speluncoi,) he was, for the sake of the coolness, dining in one of the natural caverns, whence the villa derived its appellation, a great quantity of the stones, which formed its roof, fell down and crushed some of the attendants to death. Sejanus threw himself over Tiberius, to protect him with his own body, and was found in that position by the soldiers who came to their relief. This apparent proof of generous self-devotion raised him higher than ever in the estimation of the prince. While Tiberius was rambling from place to place in Campania, (27,) a dreadful calamity occurred at Fidenaj, in consequence of the fall of a temporary amphitheatre erected by a freedman named Atilius, for giving a show of gladia- tors; the number of the killed and maimed is said to have been fifty thousand. The conduct of the nobility at Rome, on this melancholy occasion, showed that all virtue had not departed from them ; they threw open their houses for the sufferers, and supplied them witli medical attendance and remedies; so that, as the great historian observes, the city wore the appearance of the Rome of the olden time, when, after battles, the wounded were thus humanely treated. This calamity was immediately followed by a tremendous fire on the Caelian Hill ; but Tiberius alleviated the evil, by giving the inhabitants the amount of their losses in money. Having dedicated the temples, and rambled for some time through the towns of Campania, Tiberius finally fixed on the islet of Capreaj, in the Bay of Naples, as his permanent abode. This isle, which lay at tiie short distance of three miles from the promontory of Surrentum, was accessible only in one place; it enjoyed a mild temperature, and commanded a most magnificent view of the Bay of Naples and the lovely region which encompassed it.* But the delicious retreat was speedily converted by the aged prince into a den of infamy — such as has never perhaps found its equal ; his vi- cious practices, however, were covered by the veil of secre- cy, for he still lay under some restraint. * Augustus was so taken with the charms of this island, that he gave lands in exchange for it to the people of Naples, to whom it be- longed. Dion, lii. 43. 60 TIBERIUS. [a. d. 28-29. When Tiberius left Rome, Sejanus renewed his machina- tions against Agrippina and her children and friends. He directed his first efforts against her eldest son, Nero, whom he surrounded with spies; and as this youth was married to a daughter of Livia's, his wife was instructed by her aban- doned mother to note and report all his most secret words and actions. Sejanus kept a faithful register of all he could learn in these various ways, and regularly transmitted it to Tiberius. He also drew to his side Nero's younger brother Drusus, a youth of a fiery, turbulent temper, and who hated him because he was his mother's favorite. It was, however, Sejanus's intention to destroy him also, when he should have served his purpose against Nero. At this time also he made his final and fatal attack on Titius Sabinus, whose crime was his attachment to the fam- ily of Germanicus. The bait of the consulate, of which Sejanus alone could dispose, induced four men of praetorian dignity to conspire his ruin. The plan proposed was, that one of them, named Latinius Latiaris, who had some knowl- edge of Sabinus, should draw him into conversation, out of which a charjje of treason miffht be manufactured. The plot succeeded : Latiaris, by praising the constancy of Sabi- nus in friendship, led him gradually on to speak as he thought of Sejanus, and even of Tiberius. At length, un- der pretence of having something of great importance to reveal, he brought him into a chamber where the other three were concealed between the ceiling and the roof A charge of treason was therefore speedily concocted and for- warded to Tiberius, from whom a letter came on new year's day, (28,) plainly intimating to the senate his desire of vengeance. This sufficed for that obsequious body, and Sabinus was dragged forth and executed without delay. In his letter of thanks to the senate, Tiberius talked of the danger he was in, and of the plots of his enemies, evi- dently alluding to Agrippina and Nero. These unfortunate persons lost their only remaining refuge, the following year, (29,) by the death of the prince's mother, Julia Augusta,* whose influence over her son, and regard for her own de- scendants, had held Sejanus in restraint. This soon ap- peared by the arrival of a letter from Tiberius, accusing * Writers differ as to her age. Tacitus merely says ertrema tetate. Pliny (xiv. 8) makes her 82, Dion (Iviii. 1) 80 years old. This last seems to be tlie more correct, as her son Tiberius was now 70 years of age. A. D. 31.] ARTS OF SEJANUS. 61 Nero of unnatural practices, and speaking of the arrogance of Agrippinri; but, while the senate were in debate, the people surrounded the house, carrying the images of Agrip- pina and Nero, and crying out that tlie letter was forged, and the prince deceived. Nothing therefore was done on that day, and Sejanus took the opportunity of irritating the mind of Tiberius, who wrote again to the senate; but, as in the letter he forbade their proceeding to extremes, they passed a decree, declaring themselves prepared to avenge the prince, were they not hindered by himself Most unfortunately the admirable narrative of Tacitus fails us at this point ; and for the space of more than two years, and those the most important of the reign of Tiberius, we are obliged to derive our knowledge of events from the far inferior notices of Dion Cassius and Suetonius. We are therefore unable to display the arts by which Sejanus effected the ruin of Agrippina and her children, and can only learn that she. was relegated to the isle of Pandateria, where, while she gave vent to her indignation, her eye was struck out by a centurion; and that Nero was placed in the isle of Pontia, and forced to terminate his own life. The further fate of Agrippina and Drusus we shall have to relate. Sejanus now revelled in the enjoyment of power ; every one feared him, every one courted and flattered him. " In a word," says Dion, " he seemed to be emperor, Tiberiua merely the ruler of an island ; " for, while the latter dwelt in solitude, and apparently unthought of, tlie doors of the former were thronged every morning with saluting crowds, and the first men of Rome attended him on his way to the senate. His pride and insolence, as is always the case with those who rise otherwise than by merit, kept pace with his power, and men haled while they feared and flattered him. He had thus ruled for more than three years at Rome, with power nearly absolute, when (31) Tiberius made him his colleague in the consulate — an honor observed to be fatal to every one who had enjoyed it. In fact, the jealous tyrant, who had been fully informed of all his actions and designs,* had secretly resolved on his death ; but fear, on account o°f Se- janus's influence with the guards, and his uncertainty of how the people might stand affected, prevented him from pro- * According to Josephus, (Antiq. xviii. 6,) Antonia.the widow of his brother Drusus, wrote him a full account of Sejanus's proceedings, and sent it by a trusty slave named Pallas. CONTIN. 6 62 TIBERIUS. [a. D. 31. ceeding openly against him. He therefore had recourse to artifice, in which he so much delighted. At one time, he would write to the senate, and describe himself as so ill that his recovery was nearly hopeless; again, that he was in per- fect health, and was about to return to Rome. He would now praise Sejanus to the skies, and then speak most disparagingly of him ; he would honor some and disgrace others of his friends solely as such. In this way both Seja- nus himself and all others were kept in a state of the utmost uncertainty. Tiberius further bestowed priesthoods on Se- janus and his son, and proposed to marry his daughter to Drusus, the son of Claudius, the brother of Germanicus; yet, at the same time, when Sejanus asked permission to go to Campania, on the pretext of her being unwell, he desired him to remain where he was, as he himself would be coming to Rome immediately. All this tended to keep Sejanus in a state of great per- turbation ; and this was increased by the circumstance of Tiberius, when appointing the young Caius to a priesthood, having not merely praised him, but spoken of him in some sort as his successor in the monarchy. He would have pro- ceeded at once to action, were it not that the joy manifested by the people on this occasion proved to him that he had only the soldiers to rely on ; and he hesitated to act with them alone, Tiberius then showed favor to some of those to whom he was hostile; and, when writing to the senate on the occasion of the death of Nero, he merely called him Sejanus, and directed them not to offer sacrifice to any man, nor to decree any honors to himself, and of consequence to no one else. The senators easily saw whither all this tend- ed ; and their neglect of Sejanus was now pretty openly displayed. Tiberius, having thus made trial of the senate and the people, and finding he could rely on both, resolved to strike the lonor-meditated blow. In order to take his victim more completely at unawares, he gave out that it was his intention to confer on him the tribunitian power. Meantime he gave to Naevius Sertorius Macro a secret commission to take the command of the guards, made him the bearer of a letter to the senate, and instructed him fully how to act. Macro entered Rome at night, and communicated his instructions to the consul, C. Memmius Regulus, (for his colleague was a creature of Sejanus,) and to Griccinus Laco, the com- mander of the watchmen, and arranged with them the plan A. D. 31.] FALL OF SEJANUS. 63 of action. Early in the morninrf, he went up to the temple of the Palatine Apollo, where the senate was to sit that day and, meeting Sejanus, and finding him disturbed at Tiberius's having sent hitn no message, he whispered him that he had the grant of the tribunitian power for him. Sejanus then went in highly elated ; and Macro, showing his commission to the guards on duty, and telling them that he had letters promising them a largess, sent them down to their camp, and put the watchmen about the temple in their stead. He then entered the temple, and, having delivered the letter to the consuls, immediately went out again, and, leaving Laco to watch tlie progress of events there, hastened down to the camp, lest there should be a mutiny of the guards. The letter was \onrr and ambioruous; it contained nothinor direct against Sejanus, but first treated of something else, then came to a little com[)laint of him, then to some other matter, then it returned to him again, and so on; it conclu- ded by saying that two senators, who were most devoted to Sejanus, ought to be punished, and himself be cast into prison ; for, though Tiberius wished most ardently to have him executed, he did not venture to order his death, fearing a rebellion. He even implored them in the letter to send one of the consuls with a guard to conduct him, now an old man and desolate, into their presence. We are further told that such were his apprehensions, that he had given orders, in case of a tumult, to release hrs grandson Drusus, who was in chains at Rome, and put him at the head of those who remained faithful to his family ; and that he took his station on a lofty rock, watching for the signals that were to be made, having ships ready to carry him to some of the legions, in case any thing adverse should occur. His precautions, however, were needless. Before the letter was read, the senators, expecting to hear nothing but the praises of Sejanus and the grant of the tribunitian power, were loud in testifying their zeal toward him ; but, as the reading proceeded, their conduct sensibly altered ; their looks were no longer the same : even some of those who were sitting near him rose and left their seats ; the praetors and tribunes closed round him, lest he should rush out and try to raise the guards, as he certaiidy would have done, had not the letter been composed with such consummate artifice. He was in fact so thunderstruck, that it was not till the consul had called him the third time that he was able to reply. All then joined in reviling and insulting him : he 64 TIBERIUS. [a. D. 31. was conducted to the prison by the consul and the oth- er magistrates. As he passed along, the populace poured curses and abuse on him ; they cast down his statues, cut the heads off of them, and dragged them about the streets. The senate, seeing tiiis disposition of the people, and finding that the guards remained quiet, met in the afternoon in the tem- ple of Concord, close to the prison, and condemned him to death. He was executed without delay; his lifeless body was flung down the Gemonian steps, and for three days it was exposed to every insult from the populace; it was then cast into the Tiber.* His children also were put to death: his little daughter, who was to have been the bride of the prince's grand-nephew, was so young and innocent, that, as they carried her to prison, she kept asking what she had done, and whither they were dragging her, adding that she would do so no more, and that she might be whipped if naughty. Nay, by one of those odious refinements of bar- barity which trample on justice and humanity while adhering to the letter of the law, because it was a thincr unheard of for a virgin to be capitally punished, the executioner was made to deflower the child before he strangled her. Apica- ta, the divorced wife of Sejanus, on hearing of the death of her children, and seeing afterwards their lifeless bodies on the steps, went home ; and, having written to Tiberius a full account of the true manner of the death of Drusus, and of the guilt of Livilla, put an end to herself. In conse- quence of this discovery, Livilla, and all who were concerned in that murder, were put to death. The rage of the populace was also vented on the friends of Sejanus, and many of them were slaughtered. The praeto- rian guards, too, enraged at being suspected, and at the watchmen being preferred to them, began to burn and plun- der houses. The senators were in a state of the utmost per- turbation, some trembling on account of their having paid court to Sejanus, others, who had been accusers or witnesses, from not knowing how their conduct might be taken. All, however, conspired in heaping insult on the memory of the fallen favorite. Tiberius, now free from all apprehension, gave loose to his vengeance. From his island retreat he issued his orders, and the prison was filled with the friends and creatures of * See the graphic picture of the fall of Sejanus in Juvenal, Sat. x. 56, seq. A. D. 32-33.] SEJANUS'S FRIENDS. 65 Sejanus; the baleful pack of informers was unkennelled, and their victims of both sexes were hunted to death. Some were executed in prison ; others were flung from the Capitol ; the lifeless remains were exposed to every kind of indignity, and then cast into the river. Most, however, chose a volun- tary death ; for they thus not only escaped insult and pain, but preserved their property for their children. In the following year, (32,) Tiberius ventured to leave his island, and sail up the Tiber as far as Cajsar's gardens; but suddenly, no one knew why, he retreated again to his soli- tude, whence by letters he directed the course of cruelty at Rome. The commencement of one was so remarkable that historians have thought it deserving of a place in their works; it ran thus : " What I shall write to you, P. C, or how I shall write, or what I shall not write, at this time, may the gods and goddesses destroy me worse than I daily feel myself perishing, if I know."* A knight named M. Terentius, at this time, when accused of the new crime of Sejanus's friendship, had the courage to adopt a novel course of defence. lie boldly acknowledged the charge, but justified his conduct by saying that he had only followed the example of the prince, whom it was their duty to imitate. The senate acquitted him, and punished his accusers with exile or death, and Tiberius ex- pressed himself well pleased at the decision. But, in the suc- ceeding year, (33,) his cruelty, joined with avarice, (a vice new to him,) broke out with redoubled violence. Tired of murdering in detail, he ordered a general massacre of all who lay in prison on account of their connection with Sejanus. Without distinction of age, sex, or rank, they were slaugh- tered ; their friends dared not to approach, or even be seen to shed tears ; and as their putrefying remains floated along the Tiber, no one might venture to touch or to burn them. The deaths of his grandson Drusus, and his daughter-in- law Agrippina, were added to the atrocities of this year. The former perished by the famine to which he was destined, after he had sustained life till the ninth day by eating the Btuffing of his bed. The tyrant then had the shamelessness * Suet. Tib. 07. Tac. Ann. vi. G. " Adeo," adds Tacitus, '•' facinora atque flagitia sua ipsi quoqup in suppliciuin verterant. Neque frustra priEstantissimus sapientim [Plato] firmaro solitus est, si rccludantur tyrannoruni mentes posse aspici laniatus ct ictus ; quando ut corpora verberibus, ita sa;vilia, libidine, malis consultis animus dilaceretur: quippe Tiberium non fortuna non solitudines protegebant quin tor- menta pectoris suasque ipse pcenas fateretur." 66 TIBERIUS. [a. d. 33-37. to cause to be read in the senate the diary which had been kept of every thing the unhappy youth /lad said or done for a course of years, and of the indignities which he had endured from the slaves and guards who were set about him. Agrip- pina had cherished hopes of meeting with justice after the fall of Sejanus ; but, finding them frustrated, she resolved to starve herself to death. Tiberius, when informed, ordered food to be forced down her throat; but she finally accom- plished her purpose : he then endeavored to defame her mem- ory by charging her withunchastity. As her death occurred on the same day as that of Sejanus, two years before, he di- rected it to be noted ; and he took to himself as a merit that he had not caused her to be strangled or cast down the Ge- monian steps. The obsequious senate returned him thanks for his clemency, and decreed that, on the 18th of October, the day of both their deaths, an offering in gold should be made to Jupiter. The CaGsarian family was now reduced to Claudius, the brother, and Caius, the son of Germanicus, and his three daughters, Agrippina, Drusilla, and Livilla, (whom Tiberius had given in marriage respectively to Cn. Domitius, L. Cas- sius, and M. Vinicius,) and Tiberius and Julia, the children of Drusus, which last had been married to her cousin Nero, and now was given in marriage to Rubellius Blandus. From his very outset in life, Tiberius had been obliged more or less to conceal his natural character. Aucrustus, Germanicus, Drusus, his mother, had successively been a check on him ; and even Sejanus, though the agent of his cruelty, had been the cause of his lusts being restrained.* But now all barriers were removed ; for Caius was so abject a slave to him, that he modelled himself on his character and his words, only seeking to conceal his own vices. t He therefore now at length gave free course to all his vicious propensities ; and it almost chills the blood to read the details of the horrid practices in which he indulged amidst the rocks of Caprea). Meantime there was no relaxation of his cruelly ; Macro was as bad as Sejanus, only more covertly ; there was no lack of delators, and men of rank perished daily. Nature, however, at last began to give way. He had quit- ted his island, and approached to within seven miles of Rome, (37 ;) but terrified, it is said, by a prodigy, he did not ven- ture to enter the city. As he was on his way back to Cam- • Tac. Ann. vi. 51. t Id. ib. 20. A.D. 33.] LAST ILLNESS OF TIBERIUS. 6T pania, he fell sick at Astura; having recovered a little, he went on to Circeii, where, to conceal his condition, he ap- pe;ired at the public games, and even flung darts at a wild boar which was turned out into the arena. The effort, how- ever, exhausted him, and he becan)e worse ; still he went on, and reached the former abode of Lucullus at Misenum. Each day he lay at table and indulged as usual. A physi- cian named Charicles, under pretence of taking leave, one evening contrived to feel his pulse. Tiberius perceived his object, and, ordering more dishes up, lay longer than usual, under the pretext of doing honor to his departing friend ; but Charicles was not to be deceived; he told Macro that he could not last two days, and measures were forthwith taken for securing the succession of Caius. On the lOth of March, he swooned away, and appeared to be dead. Caius was con- gratuhited by most of those present, and was preparing to assume the imperial power, when word was brought that Tiberius had revived and called for food. All slank away, feigning grief or ignorance : Caius remained in silence, ex- pecting his fate, when Macro boldly ordered clothes to be heaped on him; and Tiberius thus was smothered to death, in the 78th year of his age. CHAPTER IV.* CAIUS JULIUS CESAR CALIGULA, A. u. 790—794. A. D. 37—41. ACCESSION OF CAIUS. HIS VICES AND CRUELTY. RRIDGB OVER THE HAY OF BAIJE. HIS EXPEDITION TO GERMANY. HIS MAD CAPRICES. HIS DEATH. The intelligence of the death of Tiberius diffused univer- sal joy. The memory of Germanicus, and the hard fate of his family, recurred to men's minds, and led them to think favorably of his son, and to conceive hopes of happiness • Authorities : Suetonius and Dion. 68 cAius. ' [a. d. 37. under his dominion. As Caius,* therefore, in a mourning habit, and in attendance on the corpse of his grandfather, moved from Misenum to Rome, joyful crowds poured forth to meet him, altars were raised and victims slain on the way, and the most endearing epithets greeted him as he passed along.t When he reached Rome, he proceeded to the senate-house, and the will of the late prince was opened and read. It ap- peared that he had left Caius and Tiberius the son of Drusus joint heirs ; but the will was at once set aside, under the pre- text of the testator not having been in his rio-ht mind, and the sole power was conferred on Caius, so entirely with the public approbation, that it was computed that in less than three months upwards of 100,000 victims were slain in testi- mony of the general joy. Caius, in return, was lavish of pro- fessions, assuring the senate that he would share his power with them, and do every thing that pleased them, calling himself their son and foster-child. He then released all who were in prison on charges of treason, and he burned (or rather pretended to do so) all the papers relating to them which Tiberius had left behind him, saying that he did so in order that, if he should feel ill disposed toward any one on account of his mother and brothers, he might not have it in his power to gratify his vengeance. As soon as he had celebrated the obsequies of his grand- father, whose funeral oration he pronounced himself, he got on shipboard, and, though the weather was tempestuous, passed over to the isles of Pandateria and Pontia; and, hav- ing collected, and with his own hand inurned the ashes of his mother and brother, he brought them to Rome, and deposited them in the Mausoleum of Augustus. He appointed annual religious rites in their honor ; he directed the month of Sep- tember to be called Germanious, after his father ; he caused all the honors, which had ever been bestowed on Livia Au- gusta, to be conferred, by one decree, on his grandmother Antonia; he made his uncle Claudius, who had hitherto been in the equestrian order, his colleague in the consulate; he adopted his cousin Tiberius the day he took the virile toga, and named him Prince of the Youth ; he caused his sisters' ' So be is called by all the historians. For the origin of his soubri- quet " Caligula," see above, p. 44. t " Fausta omina sldus et ])ullum et puppum et alumnum appellan- tium." auft. Cul. 13. A. D. 38.] FIRST ACTS OF CAIUS. 69 names to be associated with his own in oaths and other so- lemnities.* He drove from the city all the ministers of the monstrous lusts of Tiberius, being with difficulty withheld from drown- ing them. He permitted the works of Cremutius Cordus and others to be made public. He gave the people abundance of public shows, and he distributed to them and the soldiers ail the money that had been left them by Tiberius and Livia Augusta. Such was Caius in the first months of his reign. He then had a severe fit of illness, in consequence of which his intel- lect, it would seem, became disordered, for his remaining acts were those of a madman ; and the world witnessed the dreadful siglit of a monster, devoid of reason, possessed of unlimited power. There, however, seems to have been no reason to expect that, under any circumstances, Caius would have made a good prince; he was already stained with every vice. While yet a boy, he was, it was said, guilty of incest with his sister Drusilla. On the death of his wife, Junia Claudilla, the daughter of M. Silanus, he formed an adulter- ous connection with Ennia, the wife of Macro, and gave her an engagement to marry her if he should attain the empire. Though he conducted himself with the most consummate dissimulation, and manifested such obsequiousness to Tibe- rius as gave occasion to the well-known saying of Passienus, that " there never was a better slave nor a worse master," yet the sagacious old prince saw his real character ; and, as Caius was one day in his presence speaking with contempt of Sulla, he told him that he would have all Sulla's vices and none of his virtues ; he also said at times that Caius lived for his own destruction and that of all others, and that in him he was rearing a serpent for the Roman people and a Phae- thon for the earth. One of the first acts of Caius, after his restoration to health, was to put his cousin Tiberius to death, under the pretext of his having prayed that he might not recover. He also forced his father-in-law, Silanus, to terminate his own life, because he had not accompanied him on his late voyage, pretending that he intended to occupy the empire if any thing adverse had befallen him, though Silanus's only reason * " Auctor fuit ut omnibus sacramcntis .adjiceretur, JVeque me libe- rosqne mcos coriorc.s haliilw qnavi Caium sorurrsque ejus. Item rela- tionibus consulum. Quud bonum felixque sit C. CcEsari sororlbnsque ejus." Suet. Cal. 15. 70 CAius. [a. D. 38. had been dislike of the sea. A knight had vowed to fio-ht as a gladiator, and another person to die, if Caius should re- cover ; and, instead of rewarding them as they expected, he forced them to perform their vows. Tlius passed the first nine months of Caius's rule. He be- gan the next year (38) auspiciously, by directing that the accounts of the receipts and expenditure of the revenue should be made public, according to the practice adopted by Augus- tus, but intermitted by Tiberius. He also revised tlie eques- trian order, removing unworthy members, and introducing men of birth and property. He restored to the people the right of election, and abolished the excise duty of one per cent. — measures, however, both, it is said, condemned by men of sense, who deemed that no good could arise from giving power to those who knew not how to exercise it, and from diminishing without cause the regular revenue of the state. On the other hand, he showed the natural ferocity of his disposition by the delight with which he regarded the mas- sacres of the amphitheatre, where, on one occasion, the num- ber of condemned persons who were to be exposed to the wild beasts proving short, he ordered some of the spectators to be seized and cast to them, having previously cut out their tongues, to prevent their crying out or reproaching hira. He made Macro and his wife, Ennia, be their own execu- tioners, and he put to death numbers of persons on the charge of having been the enemies of his parents or his brothers, producing against them the very papers which he pretended to have burnt. It was in fact the desire to gain possession of their properties that was his motive; for the vast treasures accumulated by Tiberius had already been dissipated. Caius had renewed his incestuous commerce with his sis- ter Drusilla, whom he took from her husband, L. Cassius, and then married to M. Lepidus, also the partaker in his vices. She died, however, in the course of the year ; and nothing could exceed the crief which he manifested. He gave her a magnificent public funeral, and proclaimed so strict a Justitium, that it was a capital offence to laugh, bathe, or dine with one's own family or relations. All the honors which had been conferred on Livia were decreed to her ; her statue was placed in the senate-house and forum. A temple was built and priests appointed in her honor ; women, in giving testimony, were to swear by her divinity ; a festival like that of the Mother of the Gods was to be cele- A. D. 39.] CAIUS'S PROFLIGACY. 71 brated on her birthday, and under the name of Panthea she received divine honors in all the cities of the empire. A senator named Livius Geminius obtained a large reward by swearing, imprecating destruction on himself and his cliil- dren if he lied, that he saw her ascending into heaven and mingling with the gods. Caius, in the first vehemence of his grief, fled from Rome in the night, and never stopped till he reached Syracuse, whence he returned with his hair and beard grown to a great length. Ilis oath ever after, when addressing the people or the soldiers, was by the deity ofDrusilla. He lived in an incestuous commerce with his other sisters also, and at meals they used to lie by turns be- low him in the tricUnium, while his wife lay above ; yet he used to prostitute them to tiio ministers of his lusts. His first wife, after he came to the empire, was Livia Orestilla; this lady was married to C. Piso ; but Caius, when invited to the nuptial feast, took a fancy to her, and saying to Piso, " Do not touch my wife," carried her off; and next day he issued an edict, saying " that he had purveyed him a wife after the fashion of Romulus and Augustus." Within a few days, however, he divorced her ; and, two year? after, he banished her for having resumed her intimacy with her first husband. Hearing the beauty of the grandmother of Lollia Paullina praised, he summoned that lady from the province where her husband, Memmius Regulus, was in the command of the troops, and, having obliged Regulus to divorce her, he made her his wife. The following year (39) witnessed the same scenes Of cruelty and of reckless extravagance ; it was distinguished by the novel caprice of bridging over the sea from Baite to Puteoli, a space of more than three miles and a half All kinds of craft were collected, so that, in consequence of the want of foreign corn, a great scarcity prevailed througliout Italy ; and, these not proving sufficient, a large number were built for the purpose: they were anchored in two lines, and timber laid across them, and a way thus formed similar to the Appian road. Places for rest and refreshment were erected at regidar distances, and pipes laid for conveying fresh water. When all was completed, Caius, putting on the breastplate (as it was said to be) of Alexander the Great, a military cloak of purple silk adorned with gold and precious stones, and girding on a sword, and grasping a shield, his brows crowned with oak, and having previously sacrificed to Neptune and some other gods, (particularly to Envy, to 72 cAius. [a. d. 39. escape her influence,) entered the bridge from Baiie, mount- ed on a stately horse, and followed by horse and foot in warlike array, and, passing along rapidly, entered Puteoli as a captured city. Having rested there as after a battle, he returned the next day along the bridge in a two-horsed chariot, drawn by the most famous winning horses of the circus. Spoils and captives (among whom was Darius, an Arsacid, one of the Parthian hostages then at Rome) pre- ceded the sham conqueror ; his friends followed in chariots, and the troops brought up the rear. The glorious victor ascended a tribunal erected on a ship about tiie centre of the bridge, and harangued and extolled his triumphant warriors. He then caused a banquet to be spread on the bridge as if it were an island, and, all who were to partake of it crowding round it in vessels of every kind, the rest of the day and the whole of the night were spent in feasting and revelry. Lights shone from the bridge and the vessels; the hills which enclose the bay were illumined with fires and torches ; the whole seemed one vast theatre, and night converted into day, as sea was into land. But the monster, for whose gratification all these effects had been produced, could not refrain from indulging his innate ferocity. When his spirits were elevated with meat and wine, he caused several of those who were with him on the bridge to be flung into the sea, and then, getting into a beaked ship, he sailed to and fro, striking and sinking the vessels which lay about the bridge, filled with revellers. Some were drowned ; but, owing to the calmness of the sea, the greater part, though they were drunk, escaped. Various causes were assigned for this mad freak of bridg- ing over the sea. Some ascribed it, and probably with rea- son, to the wish to surpass Xerxes ; others said that his object was to strike with awe of his power the Germans and Britons, whose countries he meditated to invade. Suetonius says that, when a boy, he heard from his grandfather that the reason assigned by the people of the palace was a desire to give the lie to a declaration of the astrologer Trasyllus, who, on being consulted by Tiberius about the succession, had said that " Cains would no more reign than he would drive horses through the Bay of Baice." Whatever was the cause, the effect was the destruction of an additional number of the Roman nobility, for the sake of confiscating their properties, in order to replace the enor- mous sums which the bridge had absorbed. When Rome A. D. 39.] GERMAN EXPEDITION. 73 and Italy had been thus tolerably well exhausted of their wealth, the tyrant resolved to pillage in like manner the opulent provinces of Gaul, and tlien tliose of Spain. Under the pretext of repelling the Germans, he suddenly collected an army, and set out for Gaul, goi?ig sometimes so rapidly that the praetorian cohorts were obliged to put their stand- ards on the beasts of burden, at other times having himself carried in a litter, and the people of the towns on the way being ordered to sweep and water the roads before him. He was attended by a large train of women, gladiators, dancers, running-horses, and the other instruments of his luxury. When he reached the camp of the legions, he aifected the character of a strict commander, dismissing with ignominy such of the legates as brought up the auxiliary contingents slowly. He then turned to robbincr both officers and men. by dismissing them a little before they were entitled to their discharge, and cutting down the pensions of the rest to C900 sesterces. -^ The son of Cinobellinus, a British prince, who was ban- ished by his father, having come and made his submission to him, he wrote most magniloquent letters to Rome, as if the whole island had submitted. He crossed the Rhine as if in quest of the German foes ; but some one happening to say, as the troops were engaged in a narrow way, that there would be no little consternation if the enemy should then ai> pear, he sprang from his chariot in a fright, mounted hia horse, and gallopped back to the bridge, and, finding it filled with the men and beasts of the baggage-train, he scrambled over their heads to get beyond the river. On another occa- sion, he ordered some of his German guards to conceal them- selves on the other side of the Rhine, and intelligence to be brought to him, as he sat at diinier, that the enemy was at hand ; he S[)rang up, mounted his horse, and, followed by his friends and part of the guards, rode into the adjoining wood, and, cutting the trees and forming a trophy, returned with it to the camp by torch-light. He then reproached the cow- ardice of those who had not shared his toils and dangers, and rewarded with what he called rrplorntory crowns those who had accompanied him. Again, he took the young German hostages from their school, and, having secretly sent them on, he jumped up from a banquet, pursued them, as if they were running away, with a body of cavalry, and brought them back in chains. In an edict he severely rebuked the senate and people of Rome for holding banquets, and frequenting CONTIN. 7 J 74 CAius. [a. d. 39. theatres and delicious retreats, while C.-csar was carrying on war, and exposed to such dangers. His invasion of Britain was, if possible, still more ridicu- lous. He inarched his troops to the coast, and drew them up with all their artillery on the strand. He then got aboard of a galley, and, going a little way out to sea, returned, and, ascending a lofty tribunal, gave the signal for battle, and, at the sound of trumpets, ordered them to charge the ocean, and gather its shells as spoils due to the Capitol and Pala- tium. He bestowed a large donative on his victorious troops, and built a lighthouse to commemorate the conquest of ocean. Meantime he was not neglectful of the purpose for which he came. He pillaged indiscriminately, and put to death numbers whose only crime was their wealth. One day, when he was playing at dice, he discovered that his money was out; he retired, and, calling for the census of the Ga)ils, selected the names of the richest men in it, ordering them to be put to death ; then, returning to his company, he said, " You are playing for a few denars, but 1 have collected a hundred and fifty millions." He afterwards caused the most precious jewels and other possessions of the monarchy to be sent to him, and put them up to auction, saying, " This was my father's; this was my mother's; this Egyptian jewel be- longed to Antonius; this to Augustus;" and so on, at the same time declaring that distress alone caused him to sell them. The buyers were of course obliged to give far beyond the real value of the articles. Among those put to death while he was in Gaul was M. Lepidus, the husband of his beloved Drusilla, and the sharer in all his vices and debaucheries. The pretext was a con- spiracy of Lepidus with Livilla and Agrippina against his life. He wrote to the senate in the most opprobrious terms of his sisters, whom he banished to the Pontian isles. As he was sending tliem back to Italy for this purpose, he obliged Agrippina to carry the whole way in her bosom the urn which contained the ashes of Lepidus. To commemorate his escape, he sent three daggers to be consecrated to Mars the Avenger. At this time also he put away Lollia Paullina, under the pretext of her infecundity, and married Milonia Cssonia, a woman neither handsome nor young, and of the most disso- lute habits, and the mother already of three daughters. She was at the time so far gone with child by him that she was A. D. 40.] CAIUS IN GAUL. 75 delivered of a daughter immediately after lier marriage. He loved her ardently as long as he lived ; he used to exhibit her naked to his friends, and take her ridinw about with hirn through the ranks of the soldiery, arrayed in a cloak, helmet, and light buckler. Yet he would at times, in his fondness, protest that he would put her to the rack to make her tell why he loved her so nnich. Before he left Gaul, (40,) he proposed to massacre the legions which had mutinied against his father. He was dis- siiaded from this course; but nothing would withhold him from decinjating them, at the least. He therefore called them together unarmed, and surrounded them with his cavalry; but, when he observed that they suspected his design, and were gradually slip[)ing away to resume their arms, he lost courage, and, llying from the camp, hastened back to Rome, breathing vengeance against the senate. To the deputies, sent to entreat him to hasten his return, his words were, " I will come — I will come ; and this with me," striking the hilt of his sword ; and he declared that the senate would find him in future neither a citizen nor a prince. He entered Rome in ovation instead of triumph on his birthday, (Aug. 31,) the last he was to witness; for the measure of his guilt was full, and the patience of mankind nearly exhausted. It may be worth while to notice some of the acts of which a madman possessed of absolute power was capable. Caius declared himself to be a god, and had a temple erected to his deity, in which stood a golden statue of him, habited each day as he was himself Peacocks, pheasants, and other rare birds, were offered in sacrifice every day : his wife Ca^sonia, his uncle Claudius, and some persons of great wealth, (who had to purchase the office at a high rate,) were the priests. He added himself and his horse Incitatus to the college. He appeared in the habit and with the insignia sometimes of one, sometimes of another god or goddess. He used to invite the moon, when shining full and briglil, to de- scend to his embraces. He would enter the temple of the Capitoline Jupiter, and engage in confidential discourse, as it were, with the god, sometimes even chidinfr or threatening him. Being invited, he said, to share the abode of that deity, he threw a bridge, for the purpose, over the Forum, from the Palatium to the Capitol. It would be endless to relate all his freaks of this kind. He devised new and extraordinary taxes. He laid an im- post on all kinds of eatables ; he demanded two and a half 76 CAius. [a. d. 40. per cent, on all lawsuits, and severely punished all those who compounded their actions. Porters were required to pay an eighth of their daily earnings ; prostitutes were taxed in a similar manner. He even opened a brothel in his palace, which he filled with respectable women, and sent persons through the Forum inviting people to resort to it; When liis daughter was born, he complained bitterly of his pov- erty, and received presents for her support and dower. On new year's day, he used to stand at the porch to receive the gifts which were brought to him. He would often walk barefoot on heaps of gold coin, or lie down and roll himself on them. His natural cruelty made him delight in the combats of gladiators : he was equally fond of chariot-races; and, as he chose to favor the sea-colored faction, he used to cause the best drivers and horses of their rivals (the green) to be poi- soned. He was so fond of one of his own horses named Incitatus, that he used to invite him to dinner, give him gilded barley and wine out of golden cups, and swear by his safety and his fortune ; and he was only prevented by death from raisins him to the consulate. One day, at a show of gladiators, he ordered the awning, which screened the spectators from the burning rays of the sun, to be withdrawn, and forbade any one to be let go out. Another time, when the people applauded contrary to his wishes, he cried out, " O that the Roman people had but one neck ! " A conspiracy at length delivered the world from the mon- ster who thus oppressed it. The principal freedmen and officers of the guards were concerned in it ; they were actu- ated by a principle of self-preservation, and not by any patri- otic views or generous aspirations after the liberty and happiness of the Roman people. It was, in efifect, such a conspiracy as mo=t usually occurs in absolute and despotic governments.* The most active agents were Cassius Chac- rea and Cornelius Sabinus, two tribunes of the guards, who had private motives of revenge, in particular Cas- sius, whom, though advanced in years, and a man of great strength and courage, Caius used to term effeminate, and to give Venus or Priapus, or some such lascivious term, when he came to him for tlie watchword. * A very circumstantial account of f lie murder of Caius, and the sue cession of Claudius, is given by Josephus, Antiq. xix. 1 — 4. A. D. 41.] DEATH OF CAIUS. 77 On the 24th of January, (41,) a little after noon, though his stomach was suffering from the effects of the previous day's excess, Caius yielded to the instances of his friends, and was proceeding from the theatre, where he had passed the morning, to the dining-room. As he was going along the vaulted passage leading to it, he stopped to inspect some boys of noble birth from Ionia, whom he had caused to come to Rome to sing in public a hymn made in his honor. While thus engaged, he was fallen on and slain by Cha3rea, Sabinus, and other officers of the guards. A centurion, by the order of Chasrea, killed, in the course of the night, his wife, Ca;sonia, and the brains of their infant daughter were dashed out against a wall. Such was the end of this execra- hie tyrant, in the twenty-ninth year of his age, after a reign of somewhat less than four years. After his death, there were found in his cabinet two books, the one having for its title the Sword, the other the Dagger, and containing the names of those whom he intended to put to death. There was also discovered a large chest full of all kinds of poisons. CHAPTER v.* TIBERIUS CLAUDIUS DRUSUS CiESAR. A. u. 794—807. A. D. 41—55. ACCESSION OF CLAUDIUS. HIS CHARACTER. HIS USEFUL MEASURES. MESSALINA AND THE FREEDMEN. HER LUST AND CRUELTY. CLAUDIUS IN BRITAIN. VICIOUS CONDUCT OF MESSALINA. HER DEATH. CLAUDIUS MAR- RIES AGRIPPINA. IS POISONED BY HER. As soon as the death of Caius was known, the consuls set guards throughout the city, and assembled the senate on the Capitol, where the remainder of the day and all the night were spent in deliberation ; some wishing to reestablish the republic, others to continue the inonarcliy. But while they were deliberating, the question had been already determined in the camp of the prajtorian cohorts. • Authorities : Tacitus, Suetonius, and Dion. •7 * 78 CLAUDIUS. [a. d. 41 When Caius was slain, his uncle Claudius, in his terror, hid himself behind the door curtains of one of the rooms. A common soldier, who was running through the palace in quest of plunder, happening to see his feet under the cur- tain, dragged him out. Claudius fell on his knees, suing for mercy; but the soldier, recognizing him, saluted him em- peror, and led him to his comrades, who placed him in a litter, and carried him, trembling for his life, to their camp. The consuls sent the tribunes of the people to summon him as a senator to come and give his presence at their delibera- tions ; but he replied that he was detained by force. In the morning, however, finding the troops unanimous in their design of conferring the supreme power on him, he con- sented to accept it, promising them a gratuity of 15,000 sesterces a man — thus introducing the pernicious practice of bargaining for the support of the guards. The senate, unable to agree among themselves, finding the people indif- ferent, and being deserted by the urban cohorts, abandoned the futile project of restoring the republic, and quietly yield- ed submission to the behest of the soldiery. Tiberius Claudius Drusus Caesar, who was thus unexpect- edly raised to empire, was the younger brother of Germani- cus. He was from infancy of a sickly, delicate constitu- tion, and the disease of his body affected his mind. His mother, Antonia, used to call him a portent of a man begun but not completed by nature; and when she would describe any one as particularly stupid, she would say he was a great- er fool than her son Claudius. His grandmother Livia held him in the most supreme contempt. Augustus had so mean an opinion of him, that he would not confer on him any of the honors of the state. Tiberius treated him in a similar manner. Caius, in the first days of his reign, made him his colleague in the consulate; but it was only his con- tempt for his folly (which Claudius cunningly affected be- yond nature) that saved him from sharing the fate of so many better men. Mental ability is very distinct from good sense and wis- dom. It need not therefore surprise us to learn that this prince, who.se name in his own family was synonymous with stupidity, was learned, and wrote with ease and elegance in both the Greek and Latin languages.* lie also, as is usual- ly the case with such persons, exhibited occasional glimpses * Siirtonius (Clnud. 41) spoaks rallior flivorably of his historical writings. He seems to liave been honest and impartial. A. D. 42] ACTS OF CLAUDIUS. 79 of shrewdness and sagacity, and made just observations, and conceived or proposed judicious plans. In fact, in examin- ing the history and character of Claudius, one is often re- minded of James I. of England, though the advantacre, it must be allowed, is greatly on the side of the British mon- arch. The first act of Claudius was to declare a full and com- plete amnesty (to which he faithfully adhered) of all that had been said and done in the last two days. He executed, however, Chierea, and some of the other assassins of Caius, not out of regard to him, but to deter others from attempt- ing the life of an emperor ; Sabinus died by his own hand. Claudius exhibited no enmity against those who had injured or insulted him in the two last reigns, of whom the number was necessarily not small. He entirely abolished the law of treason ; and, taking the Sword and Dagger, and all the papers which Caius had pretended to burn, he showed them to tlie senate, and, letting them see the names of tlic writers, and of the persons against whom they were written, burned them in good earnest. While he sedulously abolished all the wild innovations of Caius, he was anxious to have all kinds of honors bestowed on the memory of his family. He re- called his nieces Agrippina and Livilla from their exile, and restored to them their property. Claudius, who was fifty years of age, and whose life had been passed chiefly in the study of antiquity, understood and wished to conform as much as possible to the forms of the ancient constitution. He declined to use the priinomen emperor ; he refused excessive honors ; he celebrated the weddings of his two daughters as if he had been a simple citi- zen ; he did nothing of public import without the authority of the senate ; he showed all due marks of respect to the consuls and the other magistrates. By this conduct, he so won the popular favor, that, when one time he went to Ostia, and a rumor was spread that he had been assassinated, the people assembled and poured their maledictions on the sen- ate and the guards, as murderers and traitors, and were not pacified till they were assured by the magistrates of his safety. In the second year of his reign, (42,) Claudius commenced a work of great utility, but of enormous expense. For many years past, tillage had been so completely abandoned in Ita- ly, that nearly all the corn that was used in Rome was im- ported from Africa and Sicily. But, as there were no secure 80 CLAUDIUS. [a. d. 42. ports or landing-places at the mouth of the Tiber, the sup- plies could only be brought in during the fine season; and, if a sufficient quantity was not then warehoused for the winter's consumption, a famine was the sure consequence. To rem- edy this evil, Claudius, undeterred by the magnitude of the estimate given in by the surveyors, resolved to construct a port at Ostia. It was formed in the following manner : A larcre basin was due in the land, on the right bank of the river, and the sea let into it ; two extensive moles were then run out into the sea, including another large basin, at the entrance to which, on an artificial island, stood a Pharos or lighthouse to direct vessels into it.* By means of this port, corn could be brought in at all times of the year, and the danger of famine in the city was greatly diminished. An- other public work, effected by Claudius, was the bringing the stream named the New Anio to Rome, and distributing it there into a number of handsome reservoirs. He attempted a still greater work, namely, the draining of the Fucine lake, in the Marsian country, of which we shall hereafter have occasion to speak. Another of his public works was the rebuilding of the theatre of Pompeius, which had been de- stroyed by fire. The conduct of Claudius had been so far commendable; but constancy was not to be expected in a man of his feeble character. It was observed that he took immoderate delight in the barbarous sports of the amphitheatre, and hence it was inferred that he would shed blood without any repugnance; but what caused greater apprehension was his absolute sub- mission to his wife and freedmen, of whose will he was merely the agent. His wife was Valeria Messalina, the daughter of his cousin Barbatus Messala, a woman whose name has become proverbial for infamy. His most distin- guished freedmen were the eunuch Posidus ; Felix, whom he tnade governor of Judaea, and who had the fortune to be the husband of three queens; and Callistus, who retained the power which he had acquired under Caius. But far supe- rior in point of influence to these were the three secretaries, (as we may term them,) Polybius, Narcissus, and Pallas. The first was the assistant of his studies, (a studiis,) and ranked so hiorh that he might be often seen walking between the two consuls ; Narcissus was his private secretary, {ab * Dion, Ix. 11. Suet. Claud. 20. Juvenal (Sat. xii. 7o,seq.) also de- scribes this port. A. D. 42.] MESSALINA AND THE FREEDMEN. 81 epistolia ;) and Pallas (the brother of Felix) was treasurer, (a ralionibus.) The two last were in strict league with Messalina; she only sought to gratify her lusts; they longed for honors, power, and wealth ; and such were the riches they acquired, that when Claudius was one time complain- ing of the poverty of his excheciuer, some one told him that he would be rich enough if he could induce his two freed- men to take him into partnership. Their plan, when tliey would have any one put to death, was to terrify Claudius (who, like weak people in general, was a consummate coward) by tales of plots against his life. They commenced in his very second year, by assailing C. Annajus Silanus, whom Claudius had summoned from Spain, where he was governor, given him in marriage the mother of Messalina, and treated him as one of his most intimate friends. The abandoned Messalina soon cast an eye of lust on her stepfather ; and, on his rejecting her advances, she plotted with Pallas to destroy him. Accordingly, Pallas came, early one Tuorning, into Claudius's chamber, and told him that he had had a dream, in which he saw him slain by Silanus. Messalina helped to increase his alarm, and an order was obtained for the execution of the innocent no- bleman. Tiiis wanton murder caused general alarm, and was the occasion of a conspiracy against Claudius, in which the principal person engaged was Annasus Vinicianus, a man of high rank. As he had no force to oppose to the guards, he sent to Furius Camillus Scribonianus, who commanded in Dalmatia, inviting him to join in the conspiracy, and holding out to him a prospect of the empire. Camillus assented; many senators and knights repaired to him ; he took the title of emperor, and wrote to Claudius, desiring him to re- tire into a private station — a command which the feeble prince had thoughts of obeying. But the legions of Ca- millus, though at first inclined to second him, when they heard him speak of the people, and of ancient liberty, began to think that a revolution would not be for their advantage. They therefore refused to obey him, and he fled to an island off the coast, and put an end to his life. Messalina and the freedmen now gave a loose to their passion for blood and for plunder. Slaves and freedmen were admitted as witnesses against their masters ; and, though Claudius had sworn, at his accession, that no freeman should be put to the torture, knights and senators, citizens and strangers, were tortured K 82 CLAUDIUS. [a. d. 43. alike. Vinicianus and some others anticipated the execu- tioner. Men and women perished alike, and their bodies were indiscriminately flung down the Gemonian Steps. Yet some, and those of the most guilty, escaped, partly by favor, partly by money given to the freedmen ; and the chil- dren, without exception, of those who perished remained uninjured; some even obtained part of the property of their family. ^^ Among those who suffered, there were two whose cases are deserving of notice. Galaisus, a freedman of Camillus, when brought before Claudius and the senate, exhibited great constancy and courage. Pallas, stepping forward presumptuously, said to him, " What would you have done, Galsesus, if Camillus had become the monarch? " " I would have stood behind him and held my tongue! " was the reply of the undaunted freedman. The other case was that of Csecina Paetus and his wife, Arria. When Psetus, who was engaged with Camillus, was put on board a ship to be con- veyed to Rome, Arria besought the soldiers to allow her to go in the vessel with him, saying that surely they would let a man of consular rank have some slaves to dress him and to attend him at table, and that she would discharge these offices. They, however, refused, and she then hired a small fishing-boat, and followed the ship.* When P;Btus was con- demned to die, this high-minded woman, though she might have lived in honor by the favor of Messalina, who had much regard for her, disdained to survive him ; and not merely so, but when she saw him hesitating to die, she took the sword, and, having stabbed herself, handed it to him, saying, "See! Psetus; I am in no pain." "They were praised," adds the historian Dion; for, from the continuance of evil, matters were come to that state that nothing but dying courageously was counted virtue. At length, when no more victims remained, the persecu- tion ceased, (43.) Claudius then, as usual, made some use- ful acts of legislation, such as diminishing the number of holidays, and obliging governors to repair betimes to their provinces, and not to remain in the city. He also deprived many unworthy persons of the right of citizenship, and con- ferred it on others. In this Messalina and the freedmen carried on a most extensive trade; and, in their eagerness to catch at all that could be obtained, they brought down so * Plin. Ep. iii. 16. A. D. 44.] CRUELTY OF MESSALINA. 83 much tlie price, (which used to be very high,) that it became a common saying that one had only to give a parcel of bro- ken glass to be made a citizen. Messalina now set no bounds to her vicious courses. Not content with being infamous herself, she would have others so; and she actually used to compel ladies to prostitute themselves even in the palace, and before the eyes of their husbands, whom she rewarded with honors and commands, while she contrived to destroy those who would not acquiesce in their wives' dishonor. Her cruelty extended also to her own sex, and to her husband's kindred; she had already (41) caused Livilla to be put to death, on a charge of adultery, (in which the philosopher Seneca was implicated, and in consequence exiled to Corsica;) but the real ground of of- fence was Livilla's beauty, and her intimacy with her uncle. She now became jealous of Julia, the granddaughter of Ti- berius, whom she soon contrived to deprive of life. Mean- time her own excesses were unknown to her husband, for she generally caused one of her maids to occupy her place in his bed ; and she bought off by benefits, or anticipated by punishments, those who could give him information.* The wars on the frontiers had been of late against the Germans in Europe, and the Moors in Africa, and Ser. Sulpicius Galba, the future emperor, had vanquished the Chattans, and C. Suetonius Paulinus had carried the Roman arms to the foot of Atlas. The plan of conquering Britain was now resumed, and partly effected.! An exiled British prince having applied to Claudius, orders were sent to A. Plautius, who commanded in Gaul, to lead his troops into the island. Plautius obeyed, and subdued a part of the country south of the Thames. At his desire, Claudius him- self proceeded to Britain; and, having crossed that river, and defeated an army of the natives, he returned to Rome (after a stay of only sixteen days in the island) and celebrated a triumph, (44.) The title of Britannicus was decreed by the senate to himself and to his young son, and honors were conferred on Messalina similar to those enjoyed by Livia Augusta. Little of importance occurred for the next two or three years. As the 800th year of the city arrived in his reign, * The picture of the depravity of this abandoned woman given by Juvenal (vi. 114, scq.) is not overcharged. t For the affairs of Britain, the reader is referred to the author's History of England. 84 CLAUDIUS. [a. d. 47 (47,) Claudius celebrated the ssecular games, alleging (it would seem with truth, though he had asserted the contrary in his own historical works) that Augustus had anticipated the proper time. The proclamation being made in the usual form, caused a good deal of merriment ; for the crier invited the people to games " which no one had seen before nor would ever see again," whereas there were many who well remembered those of Augustus in the year 737, and even some of the actors who had then performed appeared now on the stajre.* While Claudius was celebrating his frames, and reijula- ting, often advantageously, the affairs of the empire, Messali- na still ran her mad career of vice, often making her stupid husband the broker, as it were, of her pleasures. Thus, when Mnester, a celebrated dancer, with whom she fell violently in love, could be seduced neither by her promises nor her threats, she obtained from Claudius (pretending some other purpose) an order to him to do whatever she should require of him. Mnester therefore, thinking that she had full license from her husband, complied with her desires. The same was the case with many others, who deemed that they were acting in obedience to the wishes of the prince when intrifjuing with his wife. The chief object of her affection at this time was C. Sil- ius, the handsomest man in Rome, and then consul elect. She drove away his wife, Junia Silana, that she might have the sole possession of him; and Silius, knowing that to re- fuse would be his destruction, while by compliance he might possibly escape, yielded to his fUe. The adulteress had now become so secure, that she disdained concealment ; she went openly to his house ; she heaped wealth and honors on him; the slaves, the freedmen, the whole property, as it were, of the prince, were transferred to the house of her paramour. Messalina thought not of danger; but Silius saw that he was so deep in guilt, that he or Claudius must fall. He therefore proposed to his mistress the murder of her husband, and the seizure of the supreme power, offering then to marry her, and to adopt her son. She hesitated, not from affection to her husband, but from fear lest Silius should, when in power, cast her off. The prospect of a more eminent degree of infamy finally prevailed with her, * [Both these statements are highly improbable, not to say impossi- ble, no less than G3 years having passed between the times. — J. T. S.l A. D. 48.] CONDUCT OF MESSALJNA. 85 and she even resolved to become the wife of Silius at once. What followed, Tacitus thought would be regarded as so utterly beyond belief, that he deemed it necessary to assure his readers, that he faithfully recorded the accounts trans- mitted by contemporary writers. Taking advantage of the absence of Claudius, who was gone to celebrate a sacrifice at Ostia, (48,) Messalina and Silius had their marriage pub- licly performed, with all the requisite forms and ceremonies; and, as it was now the season of the vintage, they and their friends, habited as Bacchanals, acted all kinds of extrav- aorances in the crardens of Silius's house. The freedmen, meantime, consulted how they should act. The confidence between them and Messalina was at an end, for she had caused Polybius to be put to death, and they saw that no reliance could be placed on her. The others hesitated, but Narcissus resolved to run all risks, and inform Claudius of her conduct. Having made the rest promise not to give Messalina any warning, he hastened down to Ostia, and there prevailed on Calpurnia and Cleopatra, two mistresses of the prince, to communicate to him the intelligence. Accordingly, when they were alone with him, Calpurnia, throwing herself at his knees, exclaimed that Messalina was married to Silius; Cleopatra confirmed her words; Narcissus was then called in. He craved pardon for having concealed her former transgressions, but said that this was a more se- rious case, and that the empire itself was at stake. Claudius then consulted with his friends, and it was their unanimous opinion that he should hasten at once to the camp of the pra!torians, and secure their fidelity. As, however, Geta, their commander, could not be relied on, Narcissus, seconded by those who stood in equal peril with himself, declared that it was absolutely necessary that the command of the guards should for that one day be transferred to one of the freed- men, and offered to take the charge on himself Then, fear- ing lest L. Vitellius and P. Largus Caecina, who were the creatures of Messalina, should succeed in moving Claudius to pity on his way to Rome, he asked and obtained a seat in the same carriage with him and them. Intelligence of what was going on at Ostia soon reached Rome. The guilty pair were struck with consternation. Messalina retired to the gardens of Lucullus, for the sake of which (a Roman Jezebel) she had, by means of her creature L. Vitellius, lately caused their owner, Valerius Asiaticus, CONTIN. 8 86 CLAUDIUS, [a. d. 48. to be judicially murdered. Silius, to conceal his fears, went about his public duties ; but some centurions soon arrived, who put him and many others in bonds. Messalina resolved to try the effect of her presence on her weak husband. She ordered his children Britannicus and Octavia to be brought to her ; she implored Vibidia, the eldest of the Vestals, to come and intercede for her. She then, with only three com- panions, crossed the city on foot, and, getting into a gar- dener's cart, set out on the road to Ostia. When she met her husband, she cried out to him from afar to hear the mother of Octavia and Britannicus; but Narcis- sus reiterated Silius and her marriage, and gave Claudius the records of her infamy to read. As he was entering the city, his children were presented to him ; but Narcissus desired them to be removed. Vibidia then appeared, and required that he would not condemn his wife unheard. Nar- cissus replied that she should have an opportunity of defend- ing herself, and bade the Vestal meantime to go and attend to her sacred duties. Narcissus conducted Claudius to the house of Silius, that he micrht have ocular proof of his guilt. He thence took him to the camp, where Claudius, at his dictation, addressed a few words to the soldiers, who replied with a shout, calling for judgment on the guilty. Silius was brought before the tribunal ; he made no defence, and only prayed for a speedy death. His example was followed by several illustrious knights. The only case that caused any delay was that of the dancer Mnester, who pleaded the prince's command for what he had done. Claudius was dubious how to act ; but the freedmen urged that it would be folly to think of a player when so many noblemen were put to death, and that it mat- tered not whether he acted voluntarily or not in committing such a crime. Mnester also was therefore put to death. Messalina had returned to the gardens of Lucullus. She did not yet despair, if she could but get access to her husband. As Claudius, when he grew warm with wine at his dinner, desired some one to go tell that wretched woman (so he termed her) to be prepared to make her defence the next day. Narcissus saw that all was again at stake. He there- fore ran out, and told the tribune and centurions on guard that the emperor had ordered his wife to be put to death. They proceeded to the gardens of Lucullus, where they found her lying on the ground, her mother Lepida, who in her prosperity had avoided her, sitting beside her, and persuading A. D. 48.] DEATH OF MESSALINA. 87 her to take refuge in a voluntary dealli. The unfortunate woman's mind, however, was too much enervated by kixury for her to possess sufficient courage for such an act. The freedman who accompanied the officers having loaded her with abuse, she took a sword and made some ineffectual at- tempts to stab herself; the tribune then ran her through. Claudius, when informed of her fate, testified neither joy nor grief. By a decree of the senate, all memorials of Messalina were abolished, and the qu.TGStorian ensigns were voted to Narcissus. The freedmen now had the task of selecting another wife for their feeble prince, who was not capable of leading a single life, and who was sure to be governed by the successful candidate. The principal women in Rome were ambitious of the honor of sharing the bed of tlie imperial idiot ; but the claims of all were forced to yield to those of Lollia Paulina, the former wife of Cains, Julia Agrippina, the daughter of Germanicus, and JFA'ia. Petina, Claudius's own divorced wife. The first was patronized by Callistus, the second by Pallas, the last by Narcissus. Agrippina, how- ever, in consequence of her frequent access to her uncle, easily triumphed over her rivals ; the only difficulty that pre- sented itself was that of a marriage between uncle and niece being contrary to Roman manners, and being even regarded as incestuous. This difficulty, however, the compliant L. Vitellius, who was then censor, undertook to remove. He addressed the senate, stating the necessity of a domestic partner to a prince who had on him such weighty public cares. He then launched forth in praise of Agrippina ; as to the objection of the nearness of kindred, such unions, he said, were practised among other nations, and, at one time, first cousins did not use to marry, which now they did so commonly. The servile assembly outran the speaker in zeal ; tliey rushed out of the house, and a promiscuous rab- ble collected, shouting that such was the wish of the Roman people. Claudius repaired to the senate-house, and caused a decree to be made legalizing marriages between uncles and nieces; and he then formally espoused Agrippina, Yet such was the lisht in which the incestuous union was viewed, that, corrupt as the Roman character was become, only two persons were found to follow the imperial e.vample.* * The Church of Rome forhitls botli these marriages, but grants dis- pensations for them. In Popisli countries, the marriages of uncle and 88 CLAUDIUS. [a. d. 48-52. Agrippina also proposed to unite her son Doniitius with Octavia, the daughter of Claudius; but here there was a difficulty also, fur Octavia was betrothed to L. Silanus. Again, however, she found a ready tool in the base Vitellius, to whose son Junia Calvina, the sister of Silanus, had been married. As the brother and sister indulged their affection imprudently, though not improperly, the worthy censor took the occasion to make a charge of incest against Silanus, and to strike him out of the list of senators. Claudius then broke off the match, and Silanus put an end to himself on the very day of Agrippina's marriage. His sister was ban- ished, and Claudius ordered some ancient rites e.xpiatory of incest to be performed, unconscious of the application of them which would be made to himself The woman who had now obtained the government of Claudius and the Roman empire, was of a very different character from the abandoned Messalina. The latter had nothing noble about her ; she was the mere bondslave of lust, and cruel and avaricious only for its gratification ; but Agrip- pina was a woman of superior mind, though utterly devoid of principle. In her, lust was subservient to ambition; it was the desire of power, or the fear of death, and not wanton- ness, that made her submit to the incestuous embraces of her brutal brother Caius, and to be prostituted to the companions of his vices. It was ambition and parental love that made her now form an incestuous union with her uncle. To neither of her husbands, Cn. Domitius or Crispus Passienus, does she appear to have been voluntarily unfaithful ; the bed of Claudius was, however, not fated to be unpolluted ; for, as a means of advancing her views, Agrippina formed an illicit connection with Pallas. The great object of Agrippina was to exclude Britannicus, and obtain the succession for her own son, Nero Domitius, now a boy of twelve years of age. She therefore caused Octavia to be betrothed to him, and she had the philosopher Seneca recalled from Corsica, whither he had been exiled by the arts of Messalina, and committed to him the education of her son, that he might be fitted for empire. In the following year, (51,) Claudius, yielding to her influence, adopted him. In order to bring Nero forward, Agrippina caused him to assume the virile toga before the usual age, (•'>2;) and the niece are common. The late queen of Portugal was married to her uncle ; the present has married two brothers in succession. A. D. 52-55.] AGRIPPINA. 89 servile senate desired of Claudius that he might be consul at the age of twenty, and meantime be elect with proconsular power without the city. A donative was given to the sol- diers, and a congiary [congiarium) to the people, in his name. At the Circensian games, given to gain the people, Nero appeared in the triumphal habit; Britannicus, in a sxm'^le praetrrta. Every one who showed any attachment to this poor youth, was removed, on one pretence or another, and he was surrounded with the creatures of Agrippina. Finally, as the two commanders of the guards were supposed to be attached to the interests of the children of Messalina, she persuaded Claudius that their discipline would be much improved if they were placed under one commander. Ac- cordingly, those officers were removed, and the command was given to Burrus Afranius, a man of high character for probity, and of great military reputation, and who knew to whom he was indebted for his elevation. The pride and haughtiness of Agrippina far transcended any thing that Rome had as yet witnessed in a woman. When (.51) the British prince Caractacus and his family, whom P. Ostorius had sent captives to the emperor, were led before him, as he sat on his tribunal in the plain under the praetorian camp, with all the troops drawn out, Agrippina appeared, seated on another tribunal, as the partner of his power. And again, when (53) the letting off of the Fucine lake was celebrated with a naval combat, she presided with him, habited in a military cloak of cloth of gold. Agrippina at length (55) grew weary of delay, or fearful of discovery. Narcissus, who saw at what she was aiming, appeared resolved to exert all his influence in favor of Bri- tannicus; and Claudius himself, one day, when he was drunk, was heard to say, that it was his fate to bear with the infamy of his wives, and then to punish it. He had also begun to show peculiar marks of affection for Britannicus. She therefore resolved to act without delay; and, as Clau- dius, having become unwell, had retired to Sinuessa for change of air and the benefit of the waters, she proposed to take advantage of the opportunity thus presented. She pro- cured, from a woman named Locusta, infamous for her skill in poisoning, a poison of the most active nature. The eu- nuch Halotus, who was his taster, then infused it in a dish of mushrooms, a kind of food in which he delighted. The poison, however, acted violently on his bowels, and Agrippi- na, in dismay lest he should recover, made a physician who 8* L 90 NERO. was at hand introduce a poisoned feather into his throat, by way of making him discharge his stomach; and in this man- ner the nefarious deed was completed. The death of Clau- dius was concealed till all the preparations for the succession of Nero should be made, and the fortunate hour marked by the astrologers be arrived. He then (Oct. 18) issued from the palace, accompanied by Burrus ; and, being cheered by the cohort which was on guard, he mounted a litter, and proceeded to the camp. He addressed the soldiers, prom- ising them a donative, and was saluted emperor. The senate and provinces acquiesced without a murmur in the will of the guards. ^ Claudius was in his sixty-fourth year when he was poi- soned ; and he had reigned thirteen years and nine months, wanting a few days. CHAPTER VI.* NERO CLAUDIUS CiESAR. A. u. 808—821. A. D. 55—68. DECLINE OF AGRIPPINA's POWER. POISONING OF BRITANNICUS. MURDER OF AGRIPPINA. NERO APPEARS ON THE STAGE. MURDER OF OCTAVIA. EXCESSES OF NERO. BURNING OF ROME. CONSPIRACY AGAINST NERO. DEATH OF SEN- ECA. DEATHS OF PETRONIUS, THRASEAS, AND SORANUS. NERO VISITS GREECE. GALBA PROCLAIMED EMPEROR. DEATH OF NERO. The new emperor t was only seventeen years of age. On account of his youth and his obligations to her, Agrippina hoped to enjoy the power of the state ; but Nero was not feeble-minded, like Claudius, and Seneca and Burrus were resolved to keep in check the influence of a haughty, unprin- cipled woman. All outward honors, however, were shown her. When the tribune, according to custom, asked the emperor for the word, he gave, ' My best Mother ; ' the sen- * Authorities: Tacitus, Suetonius, and Dion. t Wo sliall henceforth employ this term. Its original meaning must be familiar to the reader. A. D. 56.J DECLINE OF AGRIPPINa's POWER. 91 ate decreed her sundry privileges, but Burrus and Seneca checked her iust of blood. She had, however, caused Junius Silanus, the proconsul of Asia, to be poisoned for being of the imperial family, and she forced Narcissus to be his own exe- cutioner. When the senators were summoned to the palace on any affair of state, she used to stand behind the door cur- tain, that she might be present and share in the debate with- out beinijf seen ; and when ambassadors came from Armenia, she was about to ascend the tribunal with her son, had not Seneca bidden the emperor to go and meet his mother ; and thus, by the show of filial duty, the disgrace to the majesty of Rome was avoided. All now was full of promise. The young emperor made speeches, the compositions of Seneca, replete with sentiments of clemency and justice, lie declared that Augustus should be his model in government. He diminished the taxes, and reduced the rewards of informers to a fourth. When re- quired to sign the warrant for the execution of a criminal, " How I could wish," said he, "that I were ignorant of let- ters!" He practised many popular arts, and acted in a char- acter easy to assume, but difficult to maintain if not prompted by nature. The power of Agrippina received its first shock (56) by the passion of her son for a freedwoman named Acte, a native of Asia, and, as he fiin would have it. a descendant of the kino-s of Pergamus. His graver friends were willing to wink at this attachment, for, as he testified an aversion for his chaste and modest wife, Octavia, they thought it would be a moans of keeping him from debauching women of rank. But the violent Agrippina at first set no bounds to her rage; then, passing to the other extremes, she ofliered him her purse and her apartments for the gratification of his wishes. Nero and his friends, however, saw through her arts, and the plan for reducing her power was steadily pursued. Accordingly Pallas was now deprived of his office of treasurer. This again drove her furious; she menaced her son with setting up Bri- tannicus against him, declaring that she would take him to the camp, and, as the daughter of Germanicus, appeal to the sol- diers against her unworthy son. Nero now became alarmed ; he knew of what his mother was capable, and a late incident* had shown him that Britan- * In the Saturnalia, when boys were, as usual, giving the kingdom by lot, it fell to Nero. As all were then bound to obey his commands, 92 NERO. [a.d. 56. nicus was not without spirit, and was possessed of friends. He therefore resolved to remove him, and for this purpose had a poison procured from Locusta, and administered by those about the youth. It proved, however, too weak; and the em- peror, sending for Locusta, beat her with his own hands, and made her prepare a stronger dose, of which he made trial on a kid and a pig, till he was satisfied of its efficacy. He then had it brought into the dining-room, and given in some cold water to Britannicus, as he sat at dinner. The unhappy youth dropped suddenly dead ; Nero said carelessly, that he had been subject to epilepsy from his infancy, and that he would soon recover. Agrippina was struck with terror and conster- nation, but did not venture to express them. Octavia, young as she was, had learned to conceal her feelings. So, after a brief interval of silence, the entertainment was resumed. The body of Britannicus was burnt that very night, the arrange- ments for it having been previously made. To stifle the memory of this atrocious deed, Nero be- stowed large gifts on the persons about him of most influ- ence. By many Seneca and Burrus were much blamed for accepting them, while others excused them by the plea of ne- cessity. Nothing, however, could soften Agrippina ; she em- braced Octavia; she held secret meetings with her friends; she collected money; she courted the officers of the guards; she treated the remaining nobility with great respect. Nero, in return, deprived her of the guard of honor which had been hitherto assigned her, appointed a different part of the palace for her residence, and never visited her without a party of centurions. The enemies of Agrippina were now imboldened to attack her life. Junia Silana,* who had been her intimate friend, irritated by her having been the means of depriving her of an advantageous match, caused two of her clients, named Iturius and Calvitius, to accuse her of a design to marry Rubellius Plautus, who was related to Augustus in the same degree that Nero was, and to set him up as his rival for the empire. This information was communicated to Atimetus, a freed- man of Domitia, Nero's aunt, who also was at enmity with he ordered Britannicus to stand in the middle and sing a song. Bri- tannicus obeyed ; but the song lie sang was one expressive of his own fate in being cast out from empire and his paternal seat. Tac. An. xiii. 15. It is,' probably to this play that Horace alludes, Ep. i. 1, 59. It is also the original of our Twelfth-day kings. * See above, p. 84. A. D. 56-59.] ATTACK ON AGRIPPINA. 93 Agrippina ; and he urged Paris the actor, another of her freed- uien, to go at once and inform the emperor of the danger that menaced him. Paris hastened to the pahice. It was late at night when lie arrived. Nero, who had been drinking freely, was dreadfully alarmed at this intelligence. In the first ac- cess of his terror, he would have had both his mother and Plautus put to death immediately ; but he was withheld for the present by the instances of Eurrus. In the morning, Burrus, Seneca, and some of the freedmen, waited on Agrippina. She treated the charge with disdain, exposed its absurdity, and assigned the motives of its inventors. She insisted on being admitted to an audience of her son; and, when she saw him, she demanded, and she obtained, rewards for her friends, and vengeance on her enemies. Silana was exiled, Calvitius and Iturius were relegated, Atimetus was put to death; but Paris was too necessary to the pleasures of the prince to allow of his being punished. Pallas and Burrus were now accused of a design to set up Cornelius Sulla, the son-in-law of Claudius. But the charge was so manifestly absurd, that the accuser was sent into exile. A remarkable instance of the pride and insolence of Pallas appeared on this occasion ; when the freedmen who were his confidants were named, he replied that in his house he always indicated his wishes by a nod or by a sign of his hand, or, if many things were to be expressed, he wrote them down, that he might not mingle his voice with those of his servants. Little of importance occurred at Rome during the three succeeding years. The matter of most note was the connec- tion which Nero formed (59) with a lady named Popp^a Sabina. This woman, who, as Tacitus remarks, possessed every thing but virtue, was at this time married to M. Salvius Otho, for whom she had quitted her former husband, Rufius Crispinus. Otho, who was one of Nero's greatest intimates, could not refrain from boasting frequently before him of the beauty and elegance of his wife. Nero's desires were in- flamed ; he soon managed to become acquainted with Pop- paea; and this artful woman pretended to be captivated with his beauty, but at the same time declared that she was strong- ly attached to Otho, on account of the noble and splendid life which he led, while Nero, the associate of the freedwoman Acte, could not be expected to be any thing but mean and servile. This line of conduct succeeded completely; Nero 94 NERO. [a. d. 59-60. became all her own, and Otho, that he might not be in the way of their amours, was sent out as governor of Lusitania. It was now that Agrippina was in real danger. Poppaja, whose power over her lover continually increased, knew that, as long as his mother lived, she could not hope to succeed in making him divorce Octavia and marry herself She there- fore had recourse to her usual arts, calling him a ward, tell- ing him that he did not possess freedom, much less empire; and tauntingly asking him, was it on account of her noble an- cestors, or her beauty, or her fecundity, or her spirit, that he delayed espousing her, and so forth. Tacitus relates, on the authority of several writers, and of common fame, that Agrippina's desire for the retention of power was such, that she actually sought to seduce her son to the commission of incest; and her design was only prevent- ed by Seneca's making Acte tell the prince that the fame of it was gone abroad, and that the soldiers would not submit to the rule of a profane prince. Others said that the guilty party was Nero himself, but that he was diverted from his de- sign by Acte, as just related. Nothing, we fear, is too bad to be believed of either mother or son. Be the truth as it may, Nero henceforth avoided all occa- sions of being alone with his mother ; and he secretly resolved on her death. The difficulty was how to accomplish it; poi- son was out of the question against a woman of such cau- tion ; a violent death could not be concealed, and he also feared that he could get no one to attempt her life. At length Anicetus, a freedman who commanded the fleet at Misenum, proposed the expedient of a ship which should go to pieces. The prince embraced the idea, and, as he was spending the festival of the Quinquatrus at Baiaj, (GO,) he invited his mother, who was at Antium, to visit him there, saying that children should bear with the temper of their parents. He met her on the way, and conducted her to a villa named Bauli, on the sea-coast. Among the vessels lying there was one superior to the others, as if to do her honor. She was invited to proceed in it to Baiae ; but it is said that she had gotten warning, and therefore declined, and proceeded thither in her litter. The caresses of her son, however, dispelled her suspicions, if she had any ; the banquet was prolonged into the night, and, when she rose to depart, the emperor attended her to the shore where she was to embark, and, as he was taking leave of her, he kissed her eyes and bosom repeatedly, A. D. 60.] MURDER OF AGRIPPINA. 95 either the more completely to veil his purpose, or possibly from some remnants of the feelings of nature. The night was starlight — the sea was calm : Agrippina, attended only by Creperius Gallus and her maid Acerronia, went on board. The vessel had proceeded but a little way, when, as Creperius was standing near the helm, and Acerronia was reclining over the feet of her mistress, and congratulating her on the recent reconciliation, the deck, which was laden with lead, at a given signal came down on them : Creperius was killed on the spot ; the strength of the sides of the bed saved Agrippina and Acerronia ; the ship did not go to pieces, as intended. The rowers then attempted to sink it, by inclining it to one side, but did not succeed. Acerronia foolishly crying out that she was Agrippina, and calling to them to aid the mother of the prince, was despatched with blows of boat-hooks and oars. Agrippina, who preserved silence, oidy received a wound in the shoulder ; and she floated along till slie was picked up by some small boats, and conveyed to her villa on the Lucrine lake. She now saw through the whole design of her impious son ; but, deem- ing it her wisest course to dissemble, she sent Agerinus, one of her freedmen, to inform him of the escape which the goodness of the gods had vouchsafed her, begging him not to come to visit her, as she required repose. Nero's consternation was extreme when he heard of her escape. He deemed that she would now set no bounds to her vengeance ; that she would arm her slaves, and appeal to the soldiers, the senate, and the people, against her parricidal son. He summoned Burrus and Seneca to advise him. They both maintained a long silence : at length Seneca, seeing that either Nero or Agrippina now must fall, looked at Bur- rus, and asked if a soldier should be ordered to slay her ? Burrus replied that the soldiers would not touch the issue of Germanicus, and added that it would be better for Anicetus to go through with what he had commenced. Nero was overjoyed when Anicetus declared his willingness. Just then Agerinus arrived ; and, as he was delivering his message, Nero cast a sword at his feet, and then caused him to be put in chains, that he might be able to say that his mother had sent her freedman to assassinate him, and had killed herself out of shame when she had failed in her design. When Anicetus arrived at Agrippina's villa, he dispersed the crowds which had assembled to congratulate her on her escape. He set a guard round the house, and then, with a 96 NERO. [a. d. 60. captain of a galley and a centurion of the marines, entered her chamber, where she was waiting with extreme anxiety for intelligence. The only maid about her was leaving her : " Do you also desert me ? " said she ; and, looking around, she beheld Anicetus. She told him, if he came to see her, to say that she was recovered ; if to perform a crime, she would not believe that her son would command the murder of his mother. The captain struck her with a stick on the head ; as the centurion was drawing his sword, she showed her womb, crying out, " Strike here : " she was then despatched with several wounds. Such was the termination of the guilty ambition of the highly-gifted daughter of Germanicus. It was said that she had long foreknown her fate ; for, having one time consulted the astrologers on the future fortunes of her son, they replied that he would reign, but that he would kill his mother. " Let him kill me," cried she, " provided that he reigns." Some writers related that Nero came to view the dead body of his mother, and that he criticised the various parts, observing, on the whole, that he did not think she had been so handsome. Yet conscience asserted its rights : terrific dreams scared him from his couch ; the aspect of the smiling shores of the Bay of Baiae became gloomy to his view; imagination heard the wailing of trumpets from the place where the unhonored ashes of x\grippina lay. Though the officers of the guards, at the impulsion of Burrus, came to congratulate him on his escape from the treachery of his mother ; though his friends and the adjacent towns of Campania wearied heaven with thanksgivings, and the ob- sequious senate decreed supplications and honors of all kinds, his mind could not find rest, and for years he was haunted by the memory of his murdered parent. Nero went first to Naples, and, having remained some time in Campania, dubious of the reception he might meet with at Rome, he was at length impelled by his flatterers to enter the city boldly. He did so, and found that he had had no just cause for alarm ; for senate and people alike, all ages and sexes, vied in servility and adulation. His entrance was like a triumph, and he ascended the Capitol and returned thanks to the gods. The restraint of his mother being removed, Nero now gave a free course to his idle or vicious propensities. He had always been fond of driving a chariot, and of singing to the lyre after his dinner, justifying it by the example of ancient A. D. 60-63.] NERO ON THE STAGE. 97 kings and heroes, such as the Ilonieric Achilles. Seneca and Burrus thought it advisable to humor him in the former propensity, and a space was enclosed in the Vatican valley for his chariot driving. But he was not contented till the people were admitted to witness and to applaud his skill. In order that the infamy of his exhibitions might be dimin- ished by diffusion, he obliged some of the noblest of both sexes to appear on the stage, the arena, and the circus. He also instituted games called Juvenalia, (from his then first shaving,) in which, in theatres erected in his gardens, he himself sang and danced ; and he forced the nobility of all ages and sexes, without any regard to the honors they had borne, to do the same. A lady, for example, named yElia Catella, rich and noble, and eighty years of age, was thus obliged to dance in public ! He finally appeared on the pub- lic stage; and the lord of the Roman world was seen to come forward, lyre in hand, wearing a long, trailing robe, and, hav- ing addressed the audience in the usual form, (" Gentlemen, hear me with favor," ) sing to his chords the story of Attis or the Bacchae. The officers of the guards stood around, Burrus grieving and applauding. He further selected five thousand young men, named Augustans, who were divided into companies, whose task was to applaud him when he was smofmcr. The death of Burrus, (63,) which some ascribed to poison, removed another check from the vices of Nero. The com- mand of the guards was again divided ; Fenius Rufus, an honest but inactive officer, being joined in it with Sofonius Tigellinus, a man polluted by every vice, but whom similarity of manners had recommended to the favor of the prince. Seneca, finding his influence reduced by the death of Burrus, and himself marked as the object of attack by the base minions of the court, craved an, audience of the prince, and requested to be allowed to restore all the possessions which he had bestowed on him, and permitted to retire into the shades of private life. But Nero, accomplished in hypocrisy, made the most affectionate objections, would not hear of his retire- ment, and lavished caresses on him. Seneca returned thanks and retired ; but he altered his mode of life, and henceforth avoided publicity as much as possible. Cornelius Sulla and Rubellius Plautus, being both de- scended in the female line from Augustus, were objects of alarm to Nero ; he had therefore removed them from the city ; the former resided in Gaul, the latter in Asia. But CONTIN. 9 M 98 NEKO. [a. d. 63. Tigellinus, now pretending extreme solicitude for the safety of the prince, and exaggerating the dangers to be apprehend- ed from those noblemen, obtained permission to murder them. Sulla therefore was slain as he was sitting at dinner at Marseilles, and Plautus as he was engaged in gymnic ex- ercises. Their heads were brought to Nero, who mocked at the first as gray before his time, and observed of the sec- ond, that he was not aware of his having had so large a nose. He, moreover, when he saw the head of Plautus, cried out, that now he might venture to put away Octavia, blameless and loved of the people as she was, and espouse his dear Poppaea. Accordingly, having informed the senate of the deaths of Sulla and Plautus, and finding that supplications and so forth were decreed without hesitation, he judged that he had nothing to apprehend from that spiritless as- sembly ; he therefore at once put away Octavia, on the pre- tence of sterility, and married Poppasa, who then attempted to convict Octavia of an intrigue with a flute-player named Eucerus. But the noble constancy of the greater part of that lady's female slaves, whom all the tortures of the rack could not induce to testify falsely against their mistress, de- feated the iniquitous project. The murmurs of the populace soon obliged Nero to take back Octavia, and the public joy was manifested in the most signal manner; the statues of Poppaea were flung down, and those of Octavia were carried about covered with flowers, and placed in the temples. Poppaea, now seriously alarmed for her safety, exerted all her influence over Nero ; and he obliged the notorious Anicetus to confess a criminal intercourse with Octavia. Pretending, then, that her object had been to gain over the fleet, he caused her to be confined in the fatal isle of Pan- dataria ; and a few days after, orders were sent for her death. The poor young woman, to whom, though only in her twenty-second year, life had ceased to yield any pleasure, still feared to die ; but she was bound, her veins were opened, and she was placed in a warm bath. When life was extinct, her head was cut off" and brought to Poppaja. Thanks to the gods were of course decreed by the senate.* The murder of Octavia was succeeded by the deaths (by * " Quod ad eum finem memoravimus," says Tacitus," utquicumque casus temporum illoruni, nobis vel aliis auctoribus, nosccnt, procsump- tum habeant, quotiens fugas et csedes jussit princcps, toticns grates deis actas, quajque rerum secundarum dim turn publicoe cladis insignia fuisse." A. D. Gl-65.] NCllO AT NAPLES. 99 poison, as was believed) of Pallas and some of the other freed- rnen. The crime of Pallas was his detaining, by living too long, his immense wealth from the covetous prince. At length, (64,) to his excessive joy, Nero became a father, Poppa^a being delivered of a daughter at Antium, the place of his own birth. The senate, who had already commended the womb of Poppaca to the gods, now decreed to her and the in- fant the title of Augusta; su|)plications, temples, games, and all other honors, were voted ; and when the baby died, in its fourth month, it was deified by the obsequious and impious assembly, and a temple and priest were voted to it. Hitherto Nero had confined the exercise of his scenic pow- ers to his palace and gardens ; but he longed for a more am- ple field of display. He would not yet, however, venture to insult the prejudices and feelings of the people by appearing on the stage openly at Home; and he therefore selected Naples, as a Grecian city, for the place in which he would make his debut in public, intending then to pass over to Greece, and contend at all the great games of that country, and thus overcome the prejudices of the Romans. He ac- cordingly appeared, (65,) before a large audience, in the theatre of Naples ; and even the shock of an earthquake, which rocked the building, did not prevent him from finish- ing his piece. Instead, however, of proceeding directly to Greece, he returned to Rome, and there, declaring that his absence would not be long, he ascended the Capitol to pray to the gods for the success of his journey ; but when he en- tered the temple of Vesta, he was seized with a violent tremor in all his limbs, (the effect probably of the stings of con- science ;) and he gave up his design for the present, to the great joy of the populace, who feared a scarcity of corn in his absence . to the senate and nobles it was uncertain wheth- er his absence or his presence was the more to be dreaded. To prove to the people that he preferred Rome to all other places, he made the whole city, as it were, his house, and held his banquets in the public places. Historians have deemed one of these, given by Tigellinus, deserving of memory ; [but the details are far too disgusting to be repeated. The in- famy to which Nero reduced himself was of the lowest and vilest kind.] Rome was at this time visited by a calamity worse than any that had befallen her since she was a city. On the 19th of July, a fire broke out in a part of the circus which was full of shops containing inflammable substances. The 100 NERO. " [a. D.65. flames spread rapidly, the wind accelerating tlieir career. It was not till the sixth day, that, by pulling down houses, the course of the conflagration was stopped at the foot of the Esquiline. The loss of lives and property was immense : of the fourteen quarters into which the city was divided, four only escaped ; three were totally destroyed, and of the other seven but little remained standing. Nero, who was at Antium, did not return till he heard that the flames were spreading to his palace; but when he arrived, he was unable to save it. He threw open his gardens, the Campus Martins, and the monuments of Agrippa to the sufferers ; he caused supplies of all kinds to be fetched from Antium and other places, and he reduced the price of corn considerably. All he could do, however, would not remove the suspicion that the city had been fired by his own orders. It was said that he longed for an opportunity of rebuilding it with more of regularity and beauty ; and it was asserted that, while the fire was rao-incr, he ascended a tower in the gardens of Maecenas in his scenic dress, and, charmed with what he termed "the beauty of the flame," sang to his lyre The Taking of Ilium. He caused the Sibylline books to be con- sulted, and, in obedience to them, supplications to be made to various deities ; he spared no expense in the rebuilding of the city ; and when all would not avail to clear him, he laid the guilt on the innocent. The members of the society named Christians, which had arisen some years before iu Judaea, were now numerous at Rome. From causes which we will hereafter assign, they were objects of general aver- sion, and any charge against them was likely to gain credit. Some of them were seized and forced to confess : on their evidence, a great multitude of others were taken and con- demned. They were put to death with torture and insult, some being sewed up in the skins of wild beasts, and then torn to pieces by dogs, some crucified, and others wrapped in pitch and other inflaiumable materials, and set on fire to serve for lamps in the night. The scene of their agonies was Ne- ro's gardens; and he, at the same time, to please the populace, gave Circensian games, driving about at Rome in the dress of a charioteer. Still the sufferers, though believed to be guilty of crimes, were pitied, as the victims of the real criminal. The city was rebuilt (at the heavy cost of Italy and the provinces) with more of regularity and beauty than it had ever before possessed. Many, however, complained of the width A. D. 66.] CONSPIRACY AGAINST NERO. 101 of the streets, as, when narrow, they had enjoyed more of shade and coohiess. But the great object of Nero's ambition was to rebuild his palace on a scale of unexampled magnifi- cence. He had already extended it from the Palatine to the Esquiline; and it was thence called the Transitory-house : the new one was named the Golden-house, from the quantity of gold and precious stones employed in it. It covered an im- mense extent of ground on the Palatine and Esquiline, con- taining within its bounds woods, plains, vineyards, ponds, with animals both wild and tame, and a great variety of buildings. The numerous dining-rooms were ceiled with ivory plates, whicli were movable, to shower down flowers, and perforated, to sprinkle odors on the guests. The prin- cipal one was round, and made to revolve day and night, in imitation of the world. The baths were supplied with water from the sea and from the river Albula. When the whole was completed, Nero observed that at length he had begun to dwell like a man. Men, however, were grown weary of being the objects of the tyrannic caprice of a profligate youth, and a widely-extended / conspiracy to remove him and give the supreme power to C. A Piso, a nobleman of many popular qualities, was organized, (06.) Men of all ranks, civil and military, were engaged in it, — senators, knights, tribunes, and centurions, — some, as is usual, on public, some on private grounds. While they were yet undecided where it were best to fall on Nero, a cour- tesan named Epiclnris, who had a knowledge (it is not known how obtained) of the plot, wearied of their indecision, attempted to gain over the officers of the fleet at Misenum. She made the first trial of an officer named Volusius Proc- ulus, who had been one of the agents in the murder of Agrippina, and who complained of the ill return he had met with, and menaced revenge. She communicated to him the fact of there being a conspiracy, and proposed to him to join in it ; but Proculus, hoping to gain a reward by this new service, went and gave information to Nero. Epicharis was seized ; but as she had mentioned no names, and Proculus had no witnesses, nothing could be made of the matter. She was, however, kept in prison. The conspirators became alarmed ; and, lest they should be betrayed, they resolved to delay acting no longer, but to fall on the tyrant at the Circensian games. The plan ar- ranged was, that Plautius Lateranus, the consul elect, a man of great courage and bodily strength, should sue to the em- 9* 1 02 NERO. [a. d. 66, peror for relief to his family affairs, and in so doing should grasp his knees and throw him down, and that then the of- ficers should despatch him with their swords. Meantime Piso should be waiting at the adjacent temple of Ceres ; and, when Nero was no more, the praefect Fenius Rufus and others should come and convey him to the camp. Notwithstanding the number and variety of persons en- gaged in the plot, the secret had been kept with wonderful fidelity. Accident, however, revealed it as it was on the very eve of execution. Among the conspirators was a senator named Flavins Scevinus, who, though dissolved in luxury, was one of the most eager. He had insisted on having the first part in the assassination, for which purpose he had provided a dagger taken from a temple. The night before the attack was to be made, he gave this dagger to one of his freedmen, named Milichus, to grind and sharpen. He at tlie same time sealed his will, giving freedom to some, gifts to others of his slaves. He supped more luxuriously than usual; and, though he affected great cheerfulness, it was manifest from his air that he had something of importance on his mind. He also directed his freedman to prepare bandages for wounds. The freedman, who was either already in the secret, or had his suspicions now excited, consulted with his wife, and at her impulsion set off at daylight, and revealed his suspicions to Epaphroditus, one of Nero's freedmen, by whom he was conducted to the emperor. On his information, Scevinus was arrested ; but he gave a plausible explanation of every thing but the bandages, which he positively denied. He might have escaped, were it not that Milichus's wife suggested that Antonius Natalis had conversed a orreat deal with him in secret of late, and that they were both intimate with Piso. Natalis was then sent for, and, as he and Scevinus did not agree in their accounts of the conversation which they had, they were menaced with torture. Natalis's courage gave way; he named Piso and Seneca. Scevinus, either through weakness, or thinking that all was known, named several others, among whom were Anna^us Lucanus, the poet, the ■nephew of Seneca, Tullius Senecio, and Afranius Q,uinc- tianus. These at first denied every thing ; at length, on the ■promise of pardon, they discovered some of their nearest friends, Lucan even naming his own mother, Atilla. Nero now called to mind the information of Proculus, and he ordered Epicharis to be put to the torture. But no pain could overcome the constancy of the heroic woman , and A. D. 66.] CONSPIRACY AGAINST NERO. 103 next day, as, from her weak state, she was carried in a chair to undergo the torture anew, she contrived to fasten her belt to the arched back of the chair, and thus to strangle herself. When the discovery was first made, some of the bolder spirits urged Piso to hasten to the camp or to ascend the liostra, and endeavor to excite the soldiers or the people to rise against Nero. But he had not energy for such a course, and he lingered at home till his house was surrounded by the soldiers sent to take him. lie then opened his veins, leaving a will filled, for the sake of his wife, a profligate woman, with the grossest adulation of Nero. Lateranus died like a hero, with profound silence; and though the tribune who presided at the execution was one of the conspirators, he never reproached him. But the object of Nero's most deadly enmity was Seneca. All that was against this illustrious man was, that Natalissaid that Piso had one time sent him to Seneca, who was ill, to see how he was, and to complain of his not admitting him, and that Seneca replied that " it was for the good of neither that they should meet frequently, but that his health depended on Piso's safety." The tribune Granius Silvanus (also one of the conspirators) was sent to Seneca, who was now at his villa, four miles from Rome, to examine him respecting the conversation with Natal is. He found him at table with his wife, Pompeia Paulina, and two of his friends. Seneca's account agreed with that of Natalis ; his meaning, he said, had been perfectly innocent. When the tribune made his report to Nero and his privy council, Poppaja and Tigellinus, he was asked if Seneca meditated a voluntary death. On his reply, that he showed no signs of fear or perturbation, he was ordered to go back and bid him die. Silvanus, it is said, called on Fenius on his way, and asked him if he should obey the orders; but Fenius, with that want of spirit which was the ruin of them all, bade him obey. Silvanus, when he arrived, sent in a centurion with the fatal mandate. Seneca calmly called for his will, but the centurion would not suffer him to have it. He then told his friends that, as he could not express his sense of their merits in the way that he wished, he would leave them the image of his life, to which if they attended, they would obtain the fame of virtue and of constancy in friendship. He checked their tears, showing that nothing had occurred but what was to have been ex- pected. Then, embracing his wife, he began to console and fortify her ; but she declared her resolution to die with him. 104 NERO. [a. D. 66. Not displeased at her generous devotion, and happy that one so dear to him shouhi not remain exposed to injury and mis- fortune, he gave a ready consent, and the veins in the arms of both were opened. As Seneca, on account of his age, bled slowly, he caused those of his legs and thighs to be opened also; and as he suffered very much, he persuaded his wife to go into another room; and then, calling for amanuen- ses, he dictated a discourse which was afterwards published. Finding himself going very slowly, he asked his friend, the physician, Statius Annaeus, for the hemlock-juice which he had provided, and took it ; but it had no effect. He finally went into a warm bath, sprinkling, as he entered it, the ser- vants who were about him, and saying, " I pour this liquor to Jove the Liberator." The heat caused the blood to flow freely; and his sufferings at length terminated. His body was burnt without any ceremony, according to the directions which he had given when at the height of his prosperity. Paulina did not die at this time ; for Nero, who had no en- mity against her, and wished to avoid the imputation of gratui- tous cruelty, sent orders to have her saved. She survived her husband a few years, her face and skin remaining of a deadly paleness, in consequence of her great loss of blood. The military men did not remain undiscovered. Fenius Rufus died like a coward; the tribunes and centurions, like soldiers. When one of them, named Subrius Flavins, was asked by Nero what caused him to forget his military oath, — " I hated you," said he; " and there was none of the soldiers more faithful while you deserved to be loved. I began to hate you when you became the murderer of your mother and wife, a chariot-driver, a player, and an incendiary." Nothing in the whole affair cut Nero to the soul like this reply of the gallant soldier. The consul Vestinus was not implicated by any in the conspiracy ; but Nero hated him ; and, as he was sitting at dinner with his friends, some soldiers entered to say that their tribune wanted him. He arose, went into a chamber, had his veins opened, entered a warm bath, and died. Lucan, when or- dered to die, had his veins also opened ; when he felt his ex- tremities crrowincr cold, he called to mind some verses of his Pharsalia which were applicable to his case, and died re- \ peating them.* Senecio Quinctianus, and Scevinus, and • Thoy are supposed by Lipsius to be iii. 633 — 046, by Vertranius, ix. 806—814. Lipsius is in our opinion right. A. D. 67.] DEATH OF POPP^A. 105 many others, died ; several were banished. Natalis, Milichus, and others, were rewarded ; offerings, thanksgivings, and so forth, were voted in abundance by the senate. This obsequious body, however, sought to avert the dis- grace of the lord of the Roman world appearing on the stage at the approaching Quinquennial games, by offering him the victory of song and the crown of eloquence. But Nero said that there needed not the j)ovver nor the influence of the senate ; that he feared not his rivals, and relied on the equity of the judges. lie therefore sang on the stage, and, when the people pressed him to display all his acquirements, he came forth in the theatre, strictly conforming to all the rules of his art, not sitting down when weary, wiping his face in his robe, neither spitting nor blowing his nose, and finally, with bended knee, and moving his hand, waited in counterfeit terror for the sentence of the judges. At the end of the games, he in a fit of anger gave Poppaea, who was pregnant, a kick in the stomach, which caused her death. Instead of burning her body, as was now the general custom, he had it embalmed with the most costly spices, and deposited in the monument of the Julian family. He him- self pronounced the funeral oration, in which he praised her for her beauty,* and for being the mother of a divine infant. The remainder of the year was marked by the deaths or exile of several illustrious persons, and by a pestilence which carried off great numbers of all ranks and ages. " Of the knights and senators," observes Tacitus, " the deaths were less to be lamented ; they anticipated, as it were, by the com- mon fate, the cruelty of the prince." The first deaths of the succeeding year (67) were those of P. Anteius, whose crime was his wealth and the friend- ship of Agrippina; Ostorius Scapula, who had distinguished himself in Britain; Annseus Mella, the father of Lucan ; Anicius Cerealis, Rufius Crispinus, and others. They all died in the same manner, by opening their veins. The most remarkable death was that of C. Petronius, a man whose elegance and taste in luxury had recommended him to the special favor of Nero, who, regarding him as his ' arbiter of elegance,' valued only that of which Petronius approved. The envy of Tigellinus being thus excited, he bribed one of * Poppasa was so solicitous about her beauty, that she used to bathe every day in the milk of 500 she-asses, which she kept for the purpose. Dion, Ixii. 28. N 106 NERO. [a. d. 67. Petronius's slaves to charge his master with being the friend of Scevinus. His death followed, of course; the mode of it, however, was peculiar. He caused his veins to be opened, then closed, then opened again, and so on. He meantime went on conversing with his friends, not, like a Socrates or a Seneca, on the immortality of the soul or the opinions of the wise, but listening to light and wanton verses. He re- warded some of his slaves, he had others flogged, he dined, he slept ; he made, in short, his compulsive death as like a natural one as possible. He did not, like others, pay court to Nero or Tigellinus, or the men in power, in his will ; but he wrote an account of the vices and crimes of the prince and court, under the names of flagitious men and women, and sent it sealed up to the emperor. He broke his seal-ring, lest it might be used to the destruction of innocent persons. " After the slaughter of so many illustrious men," says . Tacitus, "Nero at length sought to destroy virtue itself, by y killing Thraseas Pjetus and Bareas Soranus." The former, ^ a man of primitive Roman virtue, was hated by him not merely for his worth, but because he had, on various occa- sions, given public proof of his disapproval of his acts. Such were his going out of the senate-house when the decrees were made on account of the murder of Agrippina, and his absence from the deification and funeral of Poppaea. Further than his virtue, we know of no cause of enmity that Nero could have against Soranus. The accusers of Thraseas were Capito Cossutianus, whom he had made his enemy by supporting the Cilician deputies who came to accuse him of extortion, and Marcellus Eprius, a profligate man of eloquence. A Roman knight named Ostorius Sabinus appeared as the accuser of Soranus. The time selected for the destruction of these eminent men was that of the arrival of the Parthian prince Tiridatcs, who was coming to Rome to receive the diadem of Armenia, either in hopes that the domestic crime would be shrouded l)y the foreign glory, or, more probably, to give the Oriental an idea of the imperial power. Thraseas received an order not to appear among those who went to meet the king; he wrote to Nero, requiring to know with what he was charged, and as- serting his ability to clear himself if he got an opportunity. Nero in reply said that he would convoke the senate. Thra- seas then consulted with his friends, whether he should go to the senate-house, or expect his doom at home. Opuiions were, as usual, divided ; he, however, did not go to the senate. A. D. 67.] THRASEAS AND SORANUS. 107 Next morning the temple in which the senate sat was sur- rounded with soldiery. Cossutianus and Eprius appeared as the accusers of Thraseas, his son-in-law Helvidius Priscus, Paconius Agrippinus, and Curtius Montanus. The general charge against them was passive rather than active disloyalty, Thraseas being held forth as the seducer and encourager of the others. Ostorius then came forward and accused Sora- nus, who was present, of friendship with Rubellius Plautus, and of mal-conduct in the government of Asia. He added, that Servilia, the daughter of the accused, had given money to fortune-tellers. Servilia was summoned. She owned the truth — that she had sold her ornaments and given the money to the soothsayers, but for no impious purpose, only to learn if her father would escape. Witnesses were then called, and among them, to the indignation of every virtuous man, ap- peared P. Egnatius, the client and friend of Soranus, and a professor of the Stoic philosophy, who now had sold himself to destroy his benefactor by false testimony. The accused were all condemned, of course — Thraseas, Soranus, and Servilia, to death; the others to exile. Of the circumstances of the end of Soranus and his daughter, we are not informed. Thraseas having prevented his wife, Arria, from following the example of her mother, of the same name, by entreating her not to deprive their daughter of her only remaining support, caused his veins to be opened in the usual manner ; and, as the blood spouted forth, he said to the quaestor who was present, " Let us pour out to Jove the Liberator. Regard this, young man. May the gods avert the omen ; but you have been born in times when it is ex- pedient to fortify the mind by examples of constancy." He died after suffering much pain. These sanguinary deeds were succeeded by the splendid ceremony of giving the diadem of Armenia to Tiridates. The scene was the Forum, which was filled during the night by the people arranged in order, wearing white togas and bearing laurel, while one part of it was occupied by the sol- diers brilliantly armed. The roofs of the houses also were thronged with spectators. At daybreak, Nero, in a triumphal robe, followed by the senate and his guards, entered the Forum, and took his seat on his tribunal. Tiridates and his attendants then advanced through the lines of soldiery. An immense shout was raised when he appeared ; he was filled with terror ; but, when silence was restored, he went forward 108 NERO. [a. d. 67. and addressed the prince. Nero made a suitable reply, and, inviting him up, and making him sit at his foot, placed the diadem on his head, while the shouts of the multitude filled the air. This Tiridates was the brother of the Parthian kino- Volo- geses. In the first year of Nero's reign, as this prince had occupied the throne of Armenia, the conduct of the war, which it was resolved to undertake against him, was com- mitted to Domitius Corbulo, a man of great military talent and experience. The war, which was of the usual kind be- tween Europeans and Asiatics, in which the advantage of skill and discipline is on the side of the former, that of num- bers and knowledge of the country on that of the latter, had been carried on with various success, till at length an ar- rangement was effected by Corbulo's agreeing that Tiridates should be king of Armenia on condition of his acknowledo-ino- the supremacy of Rome, and receiving his diadem from the hands of the emperor. Nothing of importance occurred in the time of Nero on the frontiers of the Rhine and Danube. In Britain, Sue- tonius Paulinus conquered the isle of Mona, the great seat of the Druidic religion ; and a war headed by Boadicea, queen of the Icenians, which commenced by the massacre of two Roman colonies, was terminated with a prodigious slaughter of the Britons. At length Nero put his long-cherished design of visiting Greece into execution. Leaving his freedman Helius with unlimited power in Rome, he crossed the Adriatic at the head of a body of men, numerous enough, as to mere num- bers, it was said, to conquer the Parthians; but of whom the greater part were armed with lyres, masks, and theatric bus- kins. He contended at all the games of Greece; for he made them all be celebrated in the one year. When contending, he rigidly followed all the rules and practices of the citharoe- dic art; he addressed the judges with fear and reverence; he openly abused or secretly maligned his rivals. The Greeks, adepts in flattery, bestowed on him all the prizes ; and even when, at the Olympic games, he attempted to drive ten-in- hand, and was thrown from the chariot, he still was pro- claimed victor. In return, he bestowed liberty on the whole province, and gave the judges the rights of citizenship and a large sum of money. This, in imitation of Flamininus, he himself proclaimed aloud from the middle of the stadium at A. D. 67.] NERO IN GREECE. 109 the Isthmian games. These amusements, however, gave no check to the cruelty and rapacity of himself and Tigellinua. Greece was plundered as by an enemy ; numbers were put to death for their property ; many persons were even summoned thither from Italy and other parts for the sole purpose of be- ing executed. Among these was the gallant Corbulo, whom Nero lured thither by the most hypocritical expressions of affection, and ordered to be slain as soon as he landed. Corbulo took a sword, and plunged it into his body, crying, " I deserve it." While in Greece, Nero celebrated another marriacje. The • • • bride, on this occasion, was a youth named Sporus, who, it is said, bore some resemblance to Poppcea. Having emascu- lated him, and essayed all the powers of art to convert him into a woman, he espoused him with the most solemn forms, Tigellinus acting as the bride's father on the occasion. He henceforth had him dressed as his empress, and carried about with him in a litter. Some one observed that " it had been well for the world if his father Domitius had had such a wife." He also, while in Greece, attempted to dig a canal through the Isthmus, for which purpose he assembled a great number of workmen from all parts. When, from supersti- tious motives, they hesitated to touch the ground which was sacred to the sea-god, he took a spade, and set them the ex- ample himself The project, however, owing to subsequent events, came to nothing. Helius had for some time been urging the emperor by letters to return to Rome, on account of the aspect of aflfaira there. Finding his letters unheeded, he came over in per- son ; and, on his representations, Nero saw the necessity of leaving Greece. When he landed in Italy, he proceeded to Naples, the scene of his first musical glory. He entered it in a chariot drawn by white horses, and through a breach in the walls, as was the custom of victors in the public games. He did the same at Antium, Albanum, and Rome itself He entered this last city in the triumphal car of Augustus, in a purple robe studded with silver stars, the Olympic wreath of wild olive on his head, the Pythian laurel in his hand. The crowns which he had won, and boards showing the names and forms of the places where he had gained them, preceded his chariot ; the senate, knights, and soldiers, followed, shout- ing, "Olympic victor! Pythian victor! Augustus! Nero Her- cules! Nero Apollo!" and such like. In this manner he CONTIN. 10 110 NERO. [a. D. 68. proceeded to the Capitol, and thence to the palace. The crowns, eighteen hundred in number, were hung round an Egyptian obelisk. Nero then resumed his former occupa- tions as a player and charioteer. The Roman world had thus long submitted to be the sport of a monster in human form ; but the day of vengeance was at hand. We are ill-informed of the circumstances and na- ture of the revolt against him, {6S;) we are only told that its author was C. Julius Vindex, a man of high birth in Aquitanian Gaul, whose father had been a Roman senator, and who was himself at this time proprietor of Gaul. As the people were harassed beyond endurance by exactions, he proposed to them to have recourse to arms, and deprive the unworthy wretch, under whose tyranny they groaned, of the power to oppress the Roman world any longer. Vindex was too prudent a man to set himself up as the rival of Nero; he proposed that the empire should be offered to Ser. Sulpicius Galba, the governor of Tarragonian Spain, a man of high character, of much military experience, and who was at the head of a large army. Deputies were accordingly sent to Galba, to whom Vindex also wrote, strongly urging him to become the deliverer and leader of the human race. Galba, who had discovered that Nero had resolved on his death, and whom favorable signs and omens encouraged, called his sol- diers together, and, placing before his tribunal the images of a great number of persons whom Nero had put to death, de- plored the condition of the times. The soldiers instantly saluted him emperor ; he, however, cautiously professed him- self to be merely the legate of the Roman senate and peo- ple, and forthwith commenced his levies. He formed a kind of senate of the leading persons in the country, and selected a body of youths of the equestrian order to act as his body- guard. Meantime Verginius Rufus, who commanded m Germany, when he heard of the insurrection in Gaul, advanced and laid siege to Besanron. Vindex came to its relief, and, having encamped at a little distance, he and Verginius had a private meeting, in which it was suspected that they agreed to unite against Nero; but, shortly after, as Vindex was lead- ing his forces toward the town, the Roman legions, attack- ing them without orders, as was said, slew 20,000 of them. Vindex also fell by their swords, or, as was more gener- ally believed, by his own hand. The soldiers would fain A. D. 68.] INSURRECTION OF VINDEX. Ill liave saluted Vergiuius emperor; but that noble-minded man V steadfastly refused the honor, aflirming that the senate and ^ people alone had a right to confer it.* Nero was at Naples when intelligence reached him of the insurrection in Gaul. He made so light of it, that some thought he was rejoiced at the occasion which it was likely to offer for plundering those wealthy provinces. During eight days he took his ordinary amusements. At length, stung by the contumelious edicts of Vindex, he wrote to the senate, excusing his absence on account of the soreness of his throat, as if, observes the historian, he was to have sung for them ; and when he came to Rome, he assembled the principal men of both orders, but, instead of deliberating with them on the affairs of Gaul, he spent the time in ex- plaining some improvements which he had made in the hy- draulic organ, adding that he would shortly produce it in the theatre, if Vindex would allow him. When, however, he heard o^ the revolt of Galba and the Spains, his consternation was extreme. He revolved, it is said, the wildest and most nefarious projects, such as sending persons to kill all the governors of provinces, massacring the exiles and all the Gauls that were at Rome, poisoning the senate, setting fire to the city, and letting the wild beasts loose on the people. He began to levy troops ; but his first care was to provide carriages to convey his theatric proper- ties, and to dress and arm a party of his concubines as Ama- zons to form his guard. The urban cohorts having refused to serve, he called on all masters to furnish a certain number of their slaves, and he took care to select the most valuable, not even excepting the stewards or amanuenses. He likewise required all persons to give him a part of their property. Intelligence of further revolts having reached him as he was at dinner, he overturned, in his terror, the table, and broke his two precious Homeric cups, as they were named, from the scenes from Homer which were carved on them. Taking then with him in a golden box some poison prepared for him by Locusta, he went to the Servilian gardens, and sent some of his most faithful freedmen to Ostia to get shipping ready. He then tried to prevail on the officers of the guards to ac- company his flight ; but some excused themselves, others re- * Verginius caused the follovvinor lines to be placed on his tomb, (Plin. Ep. VI. 10. :) " Hie situs est llufiis, pulso qui Vindice quondam, Imperium asseruit non sibi, sed patriae." 112 NERO. [a. D. 63. fused, and one even repeated the line of Virgil, Usque adco- ne muri miscrum est? One time he thought of tlying to the Parthians, another time to Gaiba, tiien of ascending the jElostra, and asking public pardon for his transgressions, and praying for even the government of Egypt. He retired to rest; but, awaking in the middle of the night, and finding that his guards had left iiiin, he sprang up and sent for some of his friends. When none came, he arose, and went to some of their houses; but every door was closed against him. On his return, he found his bed-chamber pillaged, and his box of poison gone. He sought in vain for some one to kill him. " Have I neither a friend nor an enemy \ " cried he, and rushed to the Tiber, to throw himself into it. His courage, however, failed him ; and his freedman Phaon having offered a country-house which he had four miles from the city for a retreat, he mounted a horse, and set out with Sporus and three others, concealed in a dark cloak, with his head covered and a handkerchief before his face. As he was quitting the city, the ground seemed to rock beneath him, and a broad flash of lightning struck terror to his heart ; and, as he passed the prtetorian camp, his ears were assailed by the shouts of the soldiers execrating him and wishing success to Gai- ba. " There they go in pursuit of Nero," observed one of tUose whom they met; another inquired of them if there was any news of Nero in the city. His horse starting in the road, his handkerchief fell, and he was recognized and salu- ted by a praetorian soldier. They had to quit their horses and scramble through a thicket to get to the rear of Phaon's villa, and then to wait till an aperture was made in the wall to admit them. Phaon urged him to conceal himself, mean- time, in a sand hole ; but he replied that he would not bury himself alive, and, taking some water up in his hand from a pool to quench his thirst, he said, " This is Nero's prepared water." * lie then picked the thorns out of his cloak, and, when the aperture was completed, he crept through it, and lay down on a miserable pallet in a slave's cell. Though suffer- ing from hunger, he would not eat the coarse bread that was offered him ; but he drank some warm water. Every one now urged him to lose no time in saving him- self from the impending insults. He directed them to dig a * Decocta. Nero is said to have introduced the practice of boiling water and then cooling it in snow to give it a greater degree of cold. Plin. N. H. xxxi. 3. A. D. 68.] DEATH OF NERO. 113 grave on the spot, and to prepare the requisite water and wood for his funeral : meantime he continued weeping and saying, " What an artist is lost ! " A messenger coming with letters to Phaon, he took them, and, reading that he was declared an enemy hy the senate, and sentenced to be pun- ished more majorum, he inquired what that meant. Being told that it was to be stripped naked, have the head placed in a fork, and be scourged to death, he took two daggers he had with him, and tried their edge, then sheathed them again, saying that the fatal hour was not yet come. One moment he desired Sporus to begin the funeral wail, then he called on some one to set him an example of dying, then he upbraided his own cowardice. At length, hearing the trampling of the horses of those sent to take him, he hur- riedly repeated an appropriate line of Homer, and, placing a dagger at his throat, with the aid of his secretary Epaphro- ditus, drove it in. A centurion, entering before he was dead, put his cloak to the wound, pretending that he was come to his aid. " 'Tis too late! Is this your fidelity?" said the bleeding tyrant, and expired. Such was the well-merited end of the emperor Nero, in the 31st year of his ao-e and the 14th of his reign. We have not ventured to pollute our pages with the appalling details of his lusts and vices, which historians have transmitted to us; for by so doing we should injure rather than serve the cause of moral purity and of virtue. Monster as he was, the pop- ulace and the pra3torian soldiery, missing the gifts and the shows which he used to bestow on them, soon began to re- gret him ; and for many years his tomb continued to be vis- ited and his memory to be held in honor. No more con- vincing proof could be given of the utter degradation of the Roman people. On looking through the reigns of the four immediate sue- cessors of Augustus, one cannot fail to be struck with the singular failure of all the projects of that prince for securing the happiness of the Roman world. It can hardly be regard- ed as fortuitous that such monsters should have attained to unlimited power; and those should not be regarded as super- stitious who see in this event a fulfilment of that great law of the moral world, the visitation on the children of the sins 10* o 114 NERO. and errors of the parents. The Roman nobles had, in the last century of the republic, robbed and oppressed the people of the provinces in the most nefarious manner, and by their civil contentions at home they had demoralized the people and caused the downfall of public liberty ; their descendants were therefore the victims of the most capricious and mer- ciless tyranny, against which virtue or innocence was no se- curity. For we may observe that, with slight exceptions, it /' was solely against the noble and wealthy that the cruelties of the emperors were directed. The whole of the people of Rome, nobles and plebeians alike, were debased and degraded. Though we may not place implicit faith in the exaggerated statements of the de- claimers and satirists of the time, we must yet recognize the foundation of truth on which their exagorerations rest. The nobles were sunk in luxury and sensuality to a degree rarely equalled. Vice, unrestrained by that regard to appearance and public opinion which acts as so salutary a check in modern times, reigned in their splendid mansions, and boldly affronted the public view. But all were not equally debased. In the history of the time, we meet with many splendid ex- amples of virtue ; and, had we the records of private life, we should probably find much to flatter our more exalted views of human nature. They, in general, cultivated literature. \/ The rigid precepts of the Stoic doctrine were adopted by • those of more lofty aspirations, while the votaries of sensual enjoyment professed the degenerated system of Epicurus. The common people, now degenerated into mere lazza- roni, living on the bounty or charity of the sovereign, and utterly der^titute of even the semblance of political power, thought only of the public games,* and contended wilh more passion for the success of the blue or green faction of the Circus than their forefathers had shown for the elevation of a Scipio or a Marius to the highest dignities of the state. They were also completely brutalized by the constant view of the slaughter of grjadiators, the combats of men with the wild beasts to which they were exposed, and the massacre of animals, many brought for the purpose from the most distant .regions, in the amphitheatre. For such were the arause- * " Ex quo suffragia nulli Vendiinus cffudit curas; nam qui dabat olim Imperiuin, fasces, lejrioncs, omnia, nunc se Continet, atque duas tantuin res anxius opUt, Panem et Circenses." Juv. Sat. x- 77. STATE OF THE EMPIRE. 115 ments with which the emperors, continuing in truth only the usage of the counnonwealth, sought to gratify the populace of Kome. The fine rural population of Italy, the hardy yeomanry and stout farm laborers, whose viiror and couracje had won the victories which gave Rome her empire, had been greatly di- minished. Tillage had ceased in a great measure; and Italy, divided into huge estates, the lutifuadia of the nobles, con- tained only vineyards, oliveyards, pastures, and forests, in which all the labor was performed by gangs of slaves. The corn which was to relieve the wants of the imperial city was all supplied by Africa and Egypt; the existence of the Ro- man people was at the mercy of the winds, and any one who could obtain the possession of Egypt could starve the capi- tal. In every point of view, this policy was bad; it should be the object of every prudent government to maintain a sound agricultural population. Literature had greatly declined after the time of Augustus. The only historian of any note remaining from this period is C. Velleius Paterculus, an agreeable and ingenious writer, but the abject flatterer of the tyrant Tiberius. The philo- sophic writings of Seneca display a pure morality, conveyed in a style affected and epigrammatic, which, attractive from its very faults, operated very injuriously on the literature of the age. Of the actions of Seneca we have had occasion to speak in the preceding pages; and it is clear that his life did not strictly correspond with the high-strained principles of the Stoic philosopiiy which he professed. He is accused by Dion of having caused the insurrection of the Britons, in the reign of Nero, by his avarice; and that historian hints that the charge of adultery against him was not without foundation. On the other hand, Tacitus always speaks of him with great respect. Seneca, in effect, as he himself fre- quently confesses, had the failings of a man : he was rich ; he increased his wealth in the ordinary Roman manner, by put- ting his money out at interest in the provinces; he lived in a splendid manner; but he was moderate and temperate in his habits, and kind and amiable in all the relations of private life, and we should not hesitate to. regard him as a good man. The unfortunate circumstances under which he was placed with respect to his imperial pupil, may plead his excuse for such of his public acts as are morally objectionable. Of the poets of this period we possess only two, M, Annseus Lucanus, the nephew of Seueca, and A. Persius 116 THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. Flaccus. Both of these poets embraced the Stoic philoso- phy, and both died young. Lucan, following the example of Ennius, sought the materials of a narrative poem in the his- tory of Rome. But his subject, the war between Caesar and Pompeius, was too recent an event, and the poet was there- fore impeded in his efforts by the restrictions of truth. The Pharsalia, consequently, though full of vigor and spirit, is rhetorical rather than poetical ; and we meet in it the severe truths of history, and the strict precepts of philosophy, instead of the beguiling illusions of fiction, the proper ornaments of poetry. Persius has left six satires, written in a tone of pure and elevated morality, but in a harsh, rugged style. Horace was the great object of his admiration ; but no contrast can be greater than that which the style and manner of their respec- tive compositions present. CHAPTER VII. THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. THE JEWISH MESSIAH. JESUS CHRIST. HIS RELIGION. ITS PROPAGATION. CAUSES OF ITS SUCCESS. CHURCH GOV- ERNMENT. While such was the condition of the Roman empire under the successors of Augustus, the religion which was to super- sede the various systems of polytheism in Europe and a part of Asia, was secretly and noiselessly progressing, and making converts in all parts of the Roman dominions. The inspired books of the Jews in many places spoke of a mighty prince of that nation, named the Messiah, i. e. the Anointed-one, who would rule over all mankind in justice and equity, and exalt his own peculiar people to an extraor- dinary degree of power and preeminence. He was to be born of the line of their ancient sovereigns of the house of David ; and the interpreters of the prophetic writings had fixed the time of his advent to a period coinciding with the reign of Augustus. Interpreting their prophecies in a literal sense, they viewed the promised Deliverer as a great temporal JESUS CHRIST. 117 prince, who would wrest the supremacy of the world from Rome, and confer it on Judaea ; and the whole Jewish people were looking forward with hope and exultation to the predes- tined triumph of their arms and their creed. The promised Saviour came at the appointed time, but under a widely different character from what the expounders of the Law and the Prophets had announced. His mother, an humble maiden of the house of David, the wife of a car- penter in one of the towns of Galilee, brought him forth at Bethlehem, the city of David. He grew up in privacy and obscurity; at the age of thirty he entered on his destined of- fice as a teacher of mankind ; by many wonderful works, he proved his mission to be from on high, and himself to be the promised Messiah, whose triumph was to be over sin and the powers of darkness, and not over the arms of Rome. Many, struck by his miraculous powers, and won by the beauty and sublimity of his doctrines, and their accordance with the writings of the prophets of Israel, became his followers; but a mild and beneficent system of religion was distasteful to the nation in general; the heads of the Jewish religion grew alarmed for their own power and influence ; they therefore resolved on his destruction ; and they forced the Roman gov- ernor to condemn him to death as a spreader of sedition against the Roman authority. The death which the Son of God endured was that of the cross, (the usual mode at the time ;) but, as he had foretold to his disciples, he rose from the dead on the third day, and, after an abode of forty days on the earth, he ascended, in their view, to heaven, leaving them a charge to disseminate his religion throughout the whole world. None, we should suppose, require to be told what is the religion of Jesus Christ. All must know that its essence is the love of God and the love of man, that it inculcates every virtue, teaches to shun all evil, promises to the good eternal bliss, and menaces the wicked with eternal misery, in a future state of existence. So lovely is it, so mild, peaceful, and beneficent is its character, that, were its precepts gener- ally, though but imperfectly, obeyed, even the present world would become a paradise. We speak of the religion which is contained in the sacred books of the New Testament, in the words of Christ himself and his apostles, and not of the corrupted system which grew up and usurped its place, the progress of which it will be our task to relate. There is perhaps no moral phenomenon so extraordinary es the 118 THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. change of the purity and simplicity of the gospel into the polytheism and idolatry which afterwards assumed the name and office of Christianity ; yet, as will appear, it is a phe- nomenon not difficult of explanation. The religion of Christ was founded on that of Moses ; but while the latter was limited to one people and one country, and burdened with a wearisome ceremonial, and many peculi- arities about meats and drinks, and such like, the former, un- limited and unencumbered, was adapted to all parts of the earth, and suited to all those who had capacity to understand and follow its precepts. Its Divine Author therefore directed his disciples to preach it to all nations; and so bold and ener- getic were they in the performance of their commission, and so powerfully were they aided by the Divine Spirit which was promised them, that the religion was in the space of a few years diffiised throughout the greater part of the Roman empire. The first societies of the Christians (named clmrchcs *) were necessarily in Judaea, and the principal one at Jeru- salem, where the apostles or original companions of Christ chiefly resided. Gradually, by means of missionaries, the doc- trine was spread beyond the limits of Judaea, and churches were established at Damascus, Antioch, and other towns. The most powerful and effective of these missionaries was Saul, (or, as he was afterwards named, Paul,) who had been originally a persecutor of the church, but, being converted by miracle, as he was on his road to Damascus, became a most zealous preacher of the truth which he had opposed. To zeal and ardor he united the advantages of learnincr and eloquence ; he was versed in the literature of his own nation and of the Greeks, and was thus eminently qualified for the office assigned him, of being the apostle of the Gentiles. By means chiefly of this eminent man, within the space of five- and-twenty years from the death of Christ, churches had been formed in the principal towns of Syria, Asia Minor, Macedonia, Greece, and even in the city of Rome. The mode in which Paul and the other missionaries pro- ceeded was as follows: The Jews were now (for the pur- poses of traffic, it would appear) established in most of the great towns of the Roman empire ; and wherever they were, * The term employed in the New Testament is ixxliiola, " assem- bly." Church is usuall}' derived from the phrase o toO xvniov otxue, " the Lord's House, " which was also employed to designate tiie be- lievers in Christ. ITS PUOPAGATION. 119 they had their synagogues or places of worship. On arriving at any town, therefore, Paul, (to take him for an example,) as being a Jew, used to enter the synagogue on the Sabbath day, where, taking advantage of the custom which prevailed in the synagogues, of inviting any persons who seemed inclined to address the congregation,* he undertook to prove to them that Jesus was the long-promised Messiah. If the Jews were convinced and believed, they became the iiudcus of a church; if they did not, (as was more generally the case,) the apostle "turned to the Gentiles," that is, preached the gospel to the heathen, or the followers of the worship of false gods. The church of each town was usually composed of converts from among both Jews and Gentiles, but chiefly of the latter, the Jews being in general the implacable enemies of the religion which was to supersede their own, and which disappointed all their lofty anticipations. In the moral as in the natural world, there is no effect without a preceding cause ; no change is produced without a due preparation of circumstances. We may therefore in- quire, without presumption, what were the circumstances that favored the rapid progress of the Christian religion. The able historian of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire assigns five causes for this great effect, namely, the zeal of the Christians — the doctrine of a future life — the miraculous powers ascribed to the church — the pure and aus- tere morals of the Christians — and the union and discipline of the Christian republic. In his examination of each of these causes and its effects, he exerts all his powers of sneer and irony to throw discredit on the early Christians, to repre- sent them as weak dupes or artful impostors, and their reli- gion as no more divine than those of Greece and Italy. We shall endeavor to examine them in a different spirit. The first of the causes assigned by the historian is doubt- less a true one. Without zeal, no system of philosophy, far less of religion, will ever make rapid progress in the world. The second cause is also true. The doctrine of a future state, as taught by the apostles, had in it a degree of purity, determinateness, and certainty, unattainable by the polytheism of the heathen, and which foimed no part of the law given to the Jews by Moses. But we must not suppose, as the his- * " And after the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagoorue sent unto them, saying : Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on." Acts xiii. 15. 120 THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. torian would have us, that a future state was not believed generally at that time by the Greeks and Romans. The philosophers and men of education, doubtless, disgusted by the absurd details of the future world, furnished by poets and adopted in the popular creed, and finding no demonstrative arguments for a future existence, had reasoned themselves into skepticism on the subject, and the doctrine therefore had little or no effect on their lives and conduct; but the vulgar still clung pertinaciously to the faith transmitted to them by their forefathers, and believed the poetic creed of the future world with all its incongruities.* The religious aspect of the Roman world at that time in fact very much resembled that of Catholic Europe at the present day; the popular re- ligion was a mass of absurdities revoltino[ to the understand- ing; the men of education rejected it, and were skeptics or infidels; while the vulgar lay grovelling in idolatry and super- stition. The historian's third cause — the miraculous powers of the church — is the one liable to most dispute. The infidel to- tally denies their reality ; the believer is convinced of their truth. On this point no a priori arguments should be ad- mitted ; the inquirer should, for example, give no heed to reasonings from the steadiness and regularity of the course of nature, for we know not what that course is, and whether the effects which, as being uimsual, we denominate miracu- lous or wonderful, may not form a part of it, and have been arranged so as to coincide in point of time with the promul- gation of certain moral principles. The whole is in effect a question of evidence, and those who find the proofs offered for the authenticity of the New Testament convincing, must acknowledge that the promise of divine aid made by Jesus to his disciples was fulfilled, and that the Holy Spirit enabled them to perform many wonderful works.t At the same time, * In Lucian (De Luctu 2) will be found a proof of the tenacity with which the vulgar adhered to the traditional creed. The chief cause of Gibbon's error seems to have been his ignorance of the difference be- tween the religions systems of Greece and Italy. Ctesar and Cicero might deride the poetic under-world ; Juvenal might say, (ii. 149,) " Esse aliquid Manes et subterranea regna, Et contuni, et Stygio ranas in gurgite nigras, Atque una transire vadum tot millia cymba, Nee pueri credunt nisi qui nondum cere lavantur." But these are all Grecian, not Roman, ideas on the subject, and the vulgar at Rome might make light of them, and yet believe (as the vul- gar every where do) in a future state. t The most convincing work on the evidences of Christianity, in CAUSES OF ITS SUCCESS. 121 there are no safe grounds for supposing that this aid was continued beyond the age of the apostles. The Deity does nothing in vain ; and, when once the Christian religion was firmly rooted in the world, supernatural assistance was with- drawn. In fact, the accounts of all subsequent miracles ex- hibit the marks of error or imposition. The fourth cause was, beyond all question, a most effica- cious one. The virtues of the early Christians (to which we may add the purity of their system of morals) must have shone forth with preeminent lustre amid the moral darkness which then obscured the world. Not that virtue was totally extinct ; for God never suffers it to become so among any people; but from the language used by the apostle Paul, and from the history of the times, and the writings which have come down to us, we may infer that morality was never at a lower ebb than at that period of the Roman empire. There certainly was then no sect nor society which showed the phi- lanthropy and spirit of mutual love displayed by the early Christians. " Behold how these Christians love one another ! " was the language of the admiring heathens. The last cause assigned by the historian — the government of the church — could hardly have had much efficacy in the period of which we now treat. What the original form of church government was, is a question which was once agitated with a degree of violence and animosity which testified little for the acquaintance of the combatants with the true nature and spirit of the gospel. It is now, we believe, pretty gen- erally agreed among rational and moderate divines, that nei- ther Christ nor his apostles intended to institute any particu- lar form; leaving it to the members of the church to regulate it according to their ideas of what would best accord with the political constitution under which they lived. And, in fact, if we are to judge by the effects, we might say that forms of ecclesiastical government are indifferent, and that " vv'hate'er is best administered is best; " for equal degrees of piety and holiness seem to be attainable under all. True re- ligion is seated in the heart ; it depends not on outward forms : it is the pride, the ambition, the vanity of man, that has introduced schism and dissension into the church of Christ. The first churches, as we have seen, were founded by mis- our opinion, is Paley's " Hor® Paulinas," the perusal of which we strongly recommend. CONTIN. 11 P 122 THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. sionaries, who travelled from place to place. While they were present with any church, they necessarily exercised an authority over it ; but every society requires a permanent government; and, therefore, the churches seem almost im- mediately to have appointed some persons to preside in their assemblies, and to execute other offices of supervision or ministration. The presidents were named Overseers or Elders;* they were chosen by the members of the church, and confirmed and appointed to their office by the founder, or one authorized by him.t There is also a class of persons spoken of who were termed Prophets, and seem to have been men endowed with a ready eloquence, able to expound the Scriptures, and to exhort and admonish the congrega- tion.J A third class of officers were named Deacons, /. e. Ministers,"^, who attended to the poor, and discharged some other duties. Such seems to have been the external form of the churches during the lifetime of the apostles. Each con- gregation was independent of all others, governed by officers chosen by its members, living in harmony and friendly com- munication with the other churches ; those which were more wealthy contributing to the comforts of those, which, like the parent one at Jerusalem, were more exposed to affliction and poverty. It was not perhaps, in general, till after the death of the apostles, that, the congregations having become very numer- ous, a change was made in their form of government, and the office of Bishop or Overseer was separated from that of Elder, and restricted to one person in each society. His office was for life; he was the recognized organ and head of the church ; he had the management of its funds, and the appointment to the offices of the ministry. He also ad- ministered the rite of baptism, and he pronounced the blessing over the bread and wine used at the Lord's Supper. The presbyters were his council or assistants ; for he was only regarded as the first among equals. Such, then, was the church of Christ in its early days. It was composed of converts from among the Jews and * 'Eniaxonoi and nqtafivxiqot. That they were synonymous, is evi- dent from the following passages : Acts xx. 18 and 28; Tit. i. 5 and 7. From the former are derived the modern Vescovo, (Ital.,) Obispo, (Sp.,) Eveque, (Fr.,) Bishop, (Eng. ;) from tho latter, Prete, (Ital.,) Prdtre, (Fr.,) Priest, (Eng.) t Tit. i. 5. X \ Cor. xiv. 3 — 5. § ^laxovoi. THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 123 Gentiles, chiefly of the middle and lower ranks, for it did not exclude even slaves.* It was, in general, disregarded or despised by the learned and the great, by whom it was con- founded with Judaism, which, from its unsocial character, was the object of universal dislike, and was treated as a baneful superstition. That the early Christians were not perfect, is evinced by the Epistles of Paul himself, which, at the same time, prove how pure and holy were the precepts delivered to them; and, if Tacitus and Suetonius speak of the Christians as the worst of men, their friend, the younger Pliny, who, in his office of governor of a province, had oc- casion to become acquainted with that persecuted sect, bears testimony to the purity of their morals and the innocence of their lives.t * It must not, however, be inferred, as is sometimes done by the enemies of our religion, that there were hardly any of the better classes among the early converts. Tlie mention in the apostolic writings of masters and servants; the directions given to women not to adorn themselves with gold and silver, pearls and costly array; the sums raised for the relief of the poorer churches; — all testify the con- trary. St. Paul's remark, that there were not many of the noble or the mighty in the church of Corinth, would seem to prove that there were some; and the injunction to beware of the philosophy of the Greeks, and the Oriental Gnosis, would hardly have been necessary if the Christians were all ignorant and illiterate. t "They affirmed," says Pliny, "that the whole of their fault or error lay in this — that they were wont to meet together on a stated day before it was light, and sing among themselves alternately a hymn to Christ as to God, and bind themselves by an oath, not to the com- mission of any wickedness, but not to be guilty of theft, or robbery, or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor to deny a pledge committed to them when called on to return it." HISTORY OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE PART II. EMPERORS CHOSEN BY THE ARMY. CHAPTER I.* GALEA. OTHO. VITELLIUS. A.u. 821—823. A.D. 68—70. GALBA. ADOPTION OF PISO. MURDER OP GALBA. OTHO. CIVIL WAR. BATTLE OF BEDRIACUM. DEATH OP OTHO. VITELLIUS. VESPASIAN PROCLAIMED EMPEROR. ADVANCE OF THE FLAVIANS. STORMING OF CREMONA. BURNING OF THE CAPITOL. CAPTURE OF ROME. DEATH OF VITELLIUS. The supreme power in the Roman world had now been held for a century by the family which, in accordance with the Roman practice of adoption, we may regard as, and term, the Julian or Ca;sarian. It had also been transmitted in lineal succession, except in the case of Claudius, when the guards proved to the senate and the people that the power of giving a master to the Roman world lay with than. We are now to see this power claimed and exercised by the * Authorities : Tacitus, Suetonius, Dion, and Plutarch. A. O. 68.] CHARACTER OF GALEA. 125 legions, and the pretensions of rival candidates asserted by the arms of their supporters.* Ser. Sulpicius Galha. A.U. 821—822. A.D. 68—69. Servius Sulpicius Galba, a member of one of the most ancient and honorable patrician families at Rome, was now in the seventy-third year of his age. He had borne the high offices of the state, had governed both Africa and Spain, and had displayed military talents in the former province and in Germany, which had procured him the triumphal ornaments. Both as a general and as a governor, he had shown himself to be rigidly severe, and even harsh. He was infected with the usual vice of age — avarice, and he was entirely under the influence of those by whom he was sur- rounded. The pra;torian guards had been induced by their prefect, Nymphidius Sabinus, (the colleague of Tigellinus,) to aban- don Nero, and declare for Galba, in whose name he prom- ised them the enormous donative of 7,500 denars a man, while the soldiers of the legions he engaged should each ' receive 1,250 denars. The troops which Nero had col- lected in Italy being thus gained over, the senate followed their example, and the usual titles and power were decreed to Galba. When Galba was certified of the death of Nero, he as- sumed the title of Caesar, and set out for Rome. In that city there had been some disturbance, for Nymphidius had tried to induce the pra;torian cohorts to declare for himself; but he had been overpowered and slain. On his route, Gal- ba put to death a consular and a consul elect, without even the form of a trial ; and when, as he drew near to the city, the rowers of the fleet, whom Nero had converted into sol- diers, met him, and, refusing to return to their former con- dition, demanded an eagle and standards, he ordered his horse to charge them ; and, not content with the slaughter thus made, he decimated the remainder. When the praeto- * Hence we term this the period of emperors elected by the army, tliougli such was not strictly the case in all parts of it, as from Nerva to Commodus. 11* 126 GALEA. [a. D. 69. rians demanded the donative promised in his name, he re- plied that it was his way to levy, not to purchase his soldiers. He broke and sent home the German guards of the CiEsars, without giving them any gratuity. He oiTended the people, by refusing to punish, at their earnest desire, Tigellinus and some others of the ministers of Nero's cruelty. He, how- ever, put to death Helius, Locusta, and others. It added much to the unpopularity of Galba, that he was almost in a state of pupilage to three persons, namely, T. Vinius, his legate when in Spain, Cornelius Laco, whom he had made prefect of the praetorians, and hisfreedman Icelus, to whom he had given the equestrian ring, and the surname of Martianus. These persons had all their own ends in view; and, as they knew that, under any circumstances, the life of the emperor could not be long, they thought only of providing for their future interests. The j)rovinces and the armies in general submitted to the emperor appointed by the senate. It was not so, however, with the legions in the Germanies. Galba had most unwise- ly recalled the noble Vergiuius under the show of friendship, but in reality out of fear and jealousy, and sent A. Vitellius to command the army of Lower Germany, whose general, Fonteius Capito, had been slain by his legates Cornelius Aquinus and Fabius Valens ; while Hordeonius Flaccus, who commanded the army of Upper Germany, enfeebled by age and the gout, had lost all autliority over his troops. It v^as with this last army that the disturbance began. On new year's day, (09,) Galba entered on the consulate, with Vinius for his colleague; and a few days after, word came that the legions of Upper Germany insisted on having another emperor, leaving the choice to the senate and people. This intelligence made Galba hasten the execution of a design he had already formed of adopting some person, as he was himself childless; and he held consultations with his three friends on the subject. They were divided in their sentiments. M. Salvius Otho, from whom, it may be recollected, Nero had taken Poppa^a, had early joined Galba, whom he hoped to succeed; there was a great intimacy between him and Vinius, whose daughter, it was believed, he was engaged to marry, and Vinius therefore now strongly urged his claim to the adoption. Laco and Icelus had no partiiMilar favorite, but they were resolved to oppose the candidite of Vinius. Galba, partly, as was thought, moved by a regard for the state, which would have been to no pur- A. D. 69.] ADOPTION OF PISO. 127 pose delivered from Nero if transmitted to Otho, and partly, as was supposed, influenced by Laco, fixed on Piso Licinia- nus, a young man of the i)ol»lest birth and the strictest morals. Having adopted him with the usual forms, he took him into the camp, and informed the soldiers of what he had done; but, influenced by his parsimony and his regard for ancient usages, he unfortunately said not a word of a donative, and the troops listened to him with silence and discrust. Oiho, who, from the state of his affairs, saw ruin impend- ing over him, now resolved to make a desperate eff'ort, and be emperor or perish. He had for some time been secretly tampering with the soldiery. By means of his freedman Onomastus, he gained over two soldiers, who undertook to make trial of the fidelity of their comrades; and, on the fifth day after the adoi)tion of Piso, (Jan. 15,) as Galba was sacrificing at the temple of the Palatine Apollo, Onomastus came to Otho, who was standing by him, and said that the architect and builders were waiting for him, that being the signal agreed on. Otho, pretending that he had bought some houses which required to be examined, went away; and, at the golden mile-stone in the Forum, he was met by three-and-twenty soldiers, who saluted him emperor, and, placing him in a sedan, hurried him away to the camp, being joined by about as many more on the way. Galba was still engaged sacrificing, when the report cnme, first, that some senator, and then that Otho, was carried away to the camp. It was resolved to make trial at once of the fidelity of the cohort which was on guard at the pal- ace, and Piso went and stood on the steps and addressed them. But, though he promised a donative, they did not declare themselves. All the other troops joined the praeto- rians, with the exception of those whom Nero had drafted from the German army to serve in Egypt, and whom Galba had lately treated with much kindness. The populace hastened to the pal ice with loud and noisy loyalty; and, while Galba was consulting with his friends, word came that Otho was slain in the camp; the senators and knights, then taking courage, vied with the populace in clamorous loyalty, and Galba was put into a chair to pro- ceed to the camp. Just as he was setting out, a gu:',rdsman, showing his bloody sword, cried out that he hid sl;;in Otho: Galba, ever mindful of discipline, replied, " Fellow-solclier, who ordered you 7 " Piso, who had been sent to the camp, 128 OTHO. [a. d. 69. met the emperor on his way with the assurance that all was lost, the soldiers having declared for Otho. While they were deliberating on what were best to be done, the soldiers, horse and foot, rushed into the Forum, and dispersed the senators and the people. At the sight of them, the standard- bearer of the cohort which was with Galba threw down his ensign. The aged emperor was flung from his chair at the place called the Lake of Curtius. He desired the soldiers to slay him, if it seemed for the good of the state; and he was instantly despatched. Vinius was the next victim. Piso fled to the temple of Vesta, where he was concealed by a public slave attached to it; but he was soon discovered, dragged out and slain, and his head brought to Otho. Laco, Icelus, and several others, were put to death. The body of Galba, after being exposed to the insults of the soldiery and rabble, was indebted for sepulture to his steward, Argius, who interred it in his own warden. D M. Salvius Otho. A. u. 822. A. D. 69. The soldiers now did every thing they pleased ; for Otho, even if inclined, had not the power to restrain them ; the senate and people rushed into servitude as usual. The trib- unitian power, the name of Augustus, and all the other honors, were decreed to Otho ; and, as far as Rome was con- cerned, his power was supreme. But he had hardly entered on his new dignity when he received intelligence that the German legions, joined by several of the Gallic states, had declared A. Vitellius emperor, and that two armies, under his legates, Fabius Valens and Alienus Cajcina, were in full march for Italy. The legions of Britain and of Rajtia had also declared for Vitellius. Those of Spain at first gave in their adhesion to Otho; but they speedily turned to his rival. The troops of the East and of Africa took the oath to Otho, when they learned his elevation by the senate. The army of Illyricum also took the engagement to him, and adhered to it. His chief reliance, however, was on the guards and the other troops which had revolted in his fivor against Galba. Dur- ing the time that Otho remained in the city, preparing A. D. 69.] CIVIL WAR. 129 for the war, he displayed a degree of prudence and vigor not expected from his general character. He gained popularity by giving up to the public vengeance the infamous Tigelli- nus, and by bestowing pardon and his confidence on Marius Celsus, a consul elect, who had exhibited the most exempla- ry fidelity toward Galba, and who afterwards proved equally faithful to Otho himself. On the eve of the Ides of March, (14th,) Otho, having commended the state to the care of the senate, set out to take the command of his army ; for Valens, at the head of 40,000 men, was now approaching Italy by the Cottian Alps, while Caicina, with 30,000, was entering it by the Pennine Alps, and a part of the troops in Cisalpine Gaul had declared for Vitellius, and seized Milan, Novarra, and some other municipal towns. The whole of Italy to the Po was thus in the hands of the Vitellians. As Otho had the entire com- mand of the sea, he had put troops on board of the fleet from Misenum, and sent them to make a diversion on the southern coast of Gaul ; and they had some success against the troops despatched by Valens to oppose them. The Pannonian le- gions were on their march for Italy, and they had sent their cavalry and light troops on before. Five praetorian cohorts, with the first legion, and some cavalry, and a band of two thousand gladiators, were despatched from the city, under the command of Annius Gallus and Vestricius Spurinna, to oc- cupy the banks of the Po ; and Otho himself followed with the remainder of the praetorian cohorts, a body of veteran praetorians, and a large number of the rowers of the fleet. Caicina had crossed the Po, unopposed ; he moved along the stream of that river, and sat down before Placentia, into which Spurinna had thrown himself On the very first day of the siege, the splendid amphitheatre, the largest in Italy, which lay without the walls, was burnt, by accident or de- sign. Having failed in all his attempts to storm the town, Caecina put his troops over the river, and marched against Cremona. Gallus, who was leadinor the first legion to the relief of Placentia, being informed by letters from Spurinna of the route taken by Caecina, halted at a village named Bedriacura, between Verona and Cremona. Meantime Mar- tins Macro had suddenly crossed the Po with the gladiators, and routed a body of the Vitellian auxiliaries. The Olho- nians were now elate with success, and eager for battle, and they wrote to Otho, accusing their generals of treachery in restraining their ardor. The Othonian generals wished to avoid engaging the vet- 130 OTHO. ("a. d. 69. erans of Vitellius with their holiday troops, which had never seen any service, and to wait for the arrival of the Pannonian legions. On the other hand, Csecina, maddened by the re- pulses which he had received at Placentia, and anxious to bring matters to a conclusion before the arrival of Valens, was impatient of delay. He therefore wished to provoke a battle; and, placing the best of his auxiliary troops in am- bush, in the woods on each side of the road, at a place called The Temple of the Castors, about twelve miles from Cre- mona, he sent a party of horse along the road, with directions to fall on the enemy, and then retire and draw them into the ambuscade. The plan, however, was betrayed to the Othonian generals, Suetonius Paulinus and Marius Celsus, of whom the former taking the command of the foot, and the latter that of the horse, they made such dispositions as might turn the enemy's wile against himself Accordingly, when the Vitellian horse turned and fled, Celsus kept his men in check ; those in the ambush then rising before their time, Celsus gradually fell back till he drew them to where they found the road occupied by the legionaries, while cohorts were on each side, and the cavalry had now gotten into their rear. Had Paulinus given the word at once, they might have been cut to pieces; but he delayed so long, that they had time to save themselves in the adjoining vineyards, and a little wood, from which they made sallies, and killed some of the most forward of the Othonian horse. The Othonian infantry now pushed forward, and, as Csecina sent his troops out only by single cohorts to oppose them, the resistance which they experienced was slight; and it was thought, on both sides, that, if Paulinus had not sounded a recall, Caecina's army might have been annihilated. The reason which Paulinus assigned for doing so, was his fear lest his wearied men should be attacked by fresh troops from the camp of the Vitellians, in which case he should have no reserve to support them; his arguments, however, did not prove generally satisfactory. This check abated very much the confidence of both Cae- cina and his men; it had a similar effect on those of Va- lens, who had now reached Ticinum. They had lately been very mutinous, and their general had narrowly escaped death at their hands ; and when they heard of the recent disaster of their comrades, they were near breaking out into mutiny again. They would brook no delay; they urged on the standard-bearers, and they speedily joined the army of Caecina. A. D. 69.] CIVIL. WAR. 131 Otho now advised with his generals whether it would be better to protract the war, or to bring matters to a speedy decision. Suetonius argued strongly in favor of the former course. The Vitellians, he said, were all there ; they could calculate ou no additions to their force ; they would soon be in want of corn ; the summer was coming on, and the Ger- mans, it was well known, could not stand the heat of Italy. On the other hand, Otho had Pannonia, Moesia, and the East, with their large armies; he had Italy and the city with him, and the name of the senate and people, which was always of importance ; he had plenty of money, and his men were inured to the climate. The line of the Po, as Placen- tia had proved, could be easily defended ; he would speedily he joined by the legions from Illyricum. All therefore con- spired to recommend delay. The opinions of Celsus and Annius Gallus coincided with that of Suetonius. On the other hand, Otho himself was inclined to a speedy decision, and his brother Titianus, to whom he had given the chief command, and the praetorian prefect, Licinius Proculus, men utterly devoid of experience, flattered his wishes. The gen- erals ceased to oppose. It was then asked, should the em- peror himself appear in the field or not. Suetonius and Celsus gave no opinion, and the others decided that he should retire to Brescia, {BrixcUum,) and reserve himself for the empire. Nothing could be more pernicious than this course, for he took with him some of the best troops; and, moreover, as the soldiers distrusted their generals, and had confidence in himself alone, it diminished the moral force of the army. Valens and Caecina, who, by means of scouts and desert- ers, knew all that was going on in the enemy's camp, now began to throw a bridge of boats over the Po, as if with the intention of driving off the gladiators. While they were thus engaged, the Othonians advanced four miles from Be- driacum, and encamped, displaying so little skill in the se- lection of the site, that, though it was spring-time, and there was a number of streams all about them, the soldiers actually suffered for want of water. Celsus and Paulinus were gen- erals only in name, and their opinions had never been taken. The troops were then set in motion, to march for the con- fluence of the Po and the Adda, sixteen miles off, in spite of the remonstrances of the generals, Titianus and Proculus, being confirmed by an express from Otho, ordering matters to be brought to a decision at once. 132 OTHO. [a. d. 69 CjEcina was viewing the progress of the bridge, when word came that the enemy was at hand. He hurried back to the camp, where he found that Valens had got the troops under arms. The horse issued forth, and charged the Otho- nians, but were driven back; the legions, favored by the denseness of the trees, which concealed them from view, formed without disorder. The Othonians were advancing without any order; the baggage and the followers n)ingled with the soldiers, along a road with deep ditches on each side. A report being spread that his own troops had re- volted from Vitellius, the Othonians, when they came in view, saluted the Vitellians as friends ; but they were soon made to perceive their error. A severe conflict ensued ; but the Othonians were finally routed and driven to their camp, and the Vitellians took up their position for the night within a mile of it. The praetorians alone were unbroken in spirit ; they asserted that they were betrayed, not conquered, and insisted on continuing the war. Morning, however, brought cooler thoughts, and a deputation was sent to sue for peace, which was readily granted, and the two armies then united. When the news of the defeat at Bedriacum reached Bres- cia, the troops there, instead of being dejected, sought to in- spirit their emperor to continue the war ; and envoys from the McEsian legions, who were now at Aquileia, assured him of their resolution to adhere to his cause. But Otho had already formed his determination to end the contest for empire by a voluntary death. He addressed those about him in manly terms, declaring that he would not be the cause of ruin to such brave and worthy men. He insisted on their providing for their own safety; and, having distrib- uted money among them, and burnt all letters reflecting on Vitellius, he retired, in the evening, to his bed-chamber, and taking two daggers, and trying their edge, he placed one under his pillow. He passed the night in tranquillity, and at daybreak he thrust the dagger into his bosom. At the groan which he gave, his freedmen and friends came in ; but they found him already dead. The funeral was hurried ; for so he had earnestly desired, lest his head should be cut off and insulted. Some of the soldiers slew themselves at the pyre, and their example was followed by many at Bedriacum, Pla- centia, and other places.* * Verginius, at this time, ran the risk of his life for again refusing the empire. He had afterwards a narrow escape from tlie soldiers of D. 69.] CHARACTER OF VITELLIUS. 133 A. Vitdlius. A. u. 822—823. A. D. 69—70. The news of the death of Otho reached Rome during the celebration of the Cereal games. The event, joined with that of Flavins Sabinus, the city prefect, having caused the soldiers there to take the oath to Vitellius, being announced in the theatre, the spectators shouted for Vitellius, and they then carried the images of Galba, adorned with laurel and flowers, round to the temples. The usual honors and titles were, without hesitation, decreed to Vitellius by the senate, and thanks were voted to the armies of Germany. Aulus Vitellius, who was thus suddenly raised to empire, was the son of L. Vitellius, who, as we have seen above, was one of the basest of flatterers in the times of Caius and Claudius. He himself had, in early youth, been an inmate of the Caprscan sty of Tiberius ; he gained the favor of Caius by his fondness for chariot races; that of Claudius by his love of dice, and that of Nero by adroit flattery of his passion for the stage. He was distinguished above all men for his gluttony, so that Galba, when sending him to Lower Germany, gave as his reason for selecting him, that none are less to be feared than those who think of nothing but eating. Vitellius was collectincp reenforcements in Gaul when he heard of the victory at Bedriacum. He was met at Lyons {Lugdunum) by his own generals and by those of the Otho- nians. Of these last, Suetonius and Proculus escaped by ascribing to treachery on their ownipart the accidents which had favored the Vitellians. Titianus was excused on the ground of natural affection to his brother ; and Celsus was even allowed to retain the consulate, to which he had been appointed. The most zealous of the Othonian centurions, however, were put to death — an act which tended greatly to alienate the Illyrian army. On the whole, however, Vi- Vilellius, wlicn at that emperor's own table : " Nee quemquam ssepius quain Verginium," says Tacitus, " omnis scditio infestavit ; monebat admiratio viri et fama, scd oderant ut fastiditi." This excellent man, however, escaped all dangers, and died, when consul for the third time, in the reign of Nerva, having reached his 83d year. His funeral oration was pronounced by Tacitus. Pliny, whose guardian he had been, speaks of him (Ep. ii. 1. vi. 10) in terms of the greatest respect and affection. CONTIN. 12 134 VITELLIUS. [a. d. 69. tellius did not exhibit much of either avarice or cruehy ; but his gluttony exceeded all conception, and the wealth of the empire seemed inadequate to the supply of his table. At the same time, all the north of Italy suffered from the license of the soldiery, who, heedless of their officers, committed every species of excess. The spirit of the Othonians, too, was unbroken, and their language was haughty and menacing. The fourteenth legion, which was the most turbulent, was, thei^fore, ordered to return to Britain, whence it had been recalled by Nero, and the praetorians were first separated, and then disbanded. At Ticinum, almost in the presence of Vitellius himself, a tumult took place between the legion- aries and the auxiliaries of his own army. It was appeased with difficulty; and, in consequence of it, the Batavian co- horts were sent home — a measure productive of future calamity. Vitellius thence proceeded to Cremona, where he was present at a show of gladiators given by Cajcina. He then feasted his eyes with a view of the battle-field at Bedriacum, where the slain lay still unburied. At Bologna, he visited another show of gladiators, given by Valens. He advanced by easy journeys toward Rome, exhausting the whole coun- try on his way by requisitions for the numerous train that followed him. At length, he came in view of Rome, at the head of 60,000 men, attended by a still greater number of camp followers. Senators and knights, and crowds of the most profligate of the populace, poured forth to meet him. He was about to enter the city as a conqueror in the mili- tary habit ; but, at the suggestion of his friends, he as- sumed the magisterial pratexta. The eagles of four legions were borne before him ; efisigns and standards were around him; the troops — foot, horse, and allies — followed, all in their most splendid array. He thus ascended the Capitol, where he embraced his excellent mother, and saluted her by the title of Augusta. It was remarked, as a matter of ill omen, that Vitellius took the office of chief pontiff on the 18th of July — a day rendered memorable in the annals of Rome by the disasters at the Cremera and the Allia.* He affected a civil deport- ment, refusing the title of Augustus, and attending the meet- * [The former was the destruction of the Fabian family by the Ve- jenies, A. U. C. 279; the latter was the defeat of the Roman army by Brennus and the Gauls, A. U. C. 364. — J. T. S.] A. I). 69.] LUXURIOUS HABITS OF VITELLIUS. 135 ings of the senate as a simple member of their body, and accompanying his friends and soliciting votes for them in their canvass for the consulate. These popular arts, how- ever, did not blind men to his vices. Ilis gluttony passed all bounds of moderation ; he had three or four huge meals every day, for which he prepared himself by emetics; and the lowest cost of each was 400,0f)() sesterces. One ban- quet, given him by his brother, is said to have comprised, in its bill of fare, 2,000 of the choicest fishes, and 7,000 of the rarest birds. lie was also immoderately given to the sports of the circus, theatre, and ampiiitheatre; and he alarmed men's minds by offering public sacrifices to the Manes of Nero, as if he pro[)osed that prince for his example. Like his predecessors, he was governed by a freedman, named Asiaticus, who in cruelty, rapacity, and every other vice, fully equalled those of the courts of Claudius and Nero. The generals Ca;cina and Valens, of whom the former was more desirous of power, the latter of money, also acted as they pleased; and, altogether, Tacitus observes, "no one in that court .ittempted to distinguish himself by worth or ap- plication to business, the only road to power being to satiate the insatiable appetites of Vitellius, by extravagant banquets, and expense and debauchery of every kind." The historian adds, that, in the few months that he reigned, Vitellius spent nine hundred millions of sesterces. The soldiers, meantime, were held under little restraint ; but their strenorth was moltinir away, from their riotous liv- ing, and from the insaluiirity of the air and soil about Rome. The strength of the legions was also reduced, by the forma- tion of sixteen new pr;etorian and four urban cohorts, into which any legionary who pleased might volunteer. The luxurious enjoyments of Vitellius were soon disturbed by tidings that the legions of the East would not submit to have a head imposed on the empire by those of Germany. There were four legions in Syria, under the command of I/icinius Mucianus, the governor of that province; and T. Flavins Vespasianus had, at the head of three other legions, been for the last three years carrying on the war against the rebellious Jews, which he had now nearly brought to a con- clusion; and Ti. Alexander, the prefect of Egypt, command- ed two other legions. Vespasian had sent his son Titus to Rome, with his adhesion to Galba ; but, hearing on his way of the murder of that emperor, Titus had stopped, lest he 136 VITELLIUS. [a. D. 69. might be made a hostage by either of the rival parties. The armies of the East had taken the oath of fidelity to Otho, without making any objection ; but when Vespasian would set them the example of taking it to Vitellius, they listened to him in profound silence. He then began to meditate on his own chances of empire; both JNIucianus and Alexander, he had abundant reason to believe, would aid him in attain- ing it ; the third legion, which was now in IMcesia, had been drawn thither from Syria, and he was certain of its attach- ment to him, and it might be able to gain over the other legions of Illyricum. On the other hand, he reflected on the strength of the German legions, with which he was well acquainted, and their superiority over those of the East, and also on the risk of his being assassinated, like Scribonianus in the time of Claudius. The legates and other officers tried to encourage him, and iMucianus, both in private and public, urged every topic like- ly to prevail with him. His mind was also affected by sun- dry omens and prophecies which he recollected ; and he at length resolved to run the risk, and win the empire, or perish in the attempt. To make the necessary preparations, he repaired to Cassarea, while Mucianus hastened to Anti- och, the capitals of their respective provinces. It was, however, at Alexandria, that he was first proclaimed empe- ror ; where, on the first of July, Alexander made the legions take the oath of fidelity to Vespasian ; and two days later, as he was coming out of his chamber, at Caesarea, some sol- diers, who were at hand, saluted him emperor ; the rest then shouted out Caesar, Augustus, and the other imperial titles, and he no longer refused them. Mucianus had, meantime, brought over the Syrian legions, chiefly by assuring them that it was the intention of Vitellius to replace them by those of Germany, and remove them to the snows and cold of the north. The neighboring kings, Sohemus, Antiochus, and Agrippa, joined in the league, and a meeting was held at Berytus to deliberate on the best mode of proceeding. It was there resolved that every eff"ort should be made to obtain money and supplies of all kinds; that embassies should be .sent to the Parthians and Armenians, to engage them to remain at peace; that Titus should carry on the war in Judaja; and Vespasian himself secure Egypt; while Mucianus should set out, with a part of the army, against Vitellius; and letters be written to all the armies and le- A. D. 69.] TROOPS DECLARE FOR VESPASIAN 137 gates ; and every means be employed to induce the disband- ed praetorian cohorts to resume their arms in the cause of Vespasian. Accordingly, Mucianus set forth at once with a body of light troops, a much larger force following at a slower pace. He ordered the fleet from the Pontus to meet him at Byzan- tium, not being yet determined whether he should march through MoBsia, or pass direct from Dyrrhachium to Brundi- sium or Tarentum. His course, however, was decided by the news of what had occurred in the army of lllyricum. For three legions from Mocsia, (one of which was the third,) having reached Aquileia, on their march to join Otho, there learned the death of that prince. While they halted, officers arrived, inviting them to submit to Vitellius; but they tore the banners which were sent to them bearing his name, and seized and divided among them the public money. The third then setting the example, they declared for Vespasian ; and they wrote to the Pannonian army, inviting them to join them, under the penalty of being treated as enemies. This army, consisting of two legions, which had fought at Be- driacum, eager to efface the disgrace of defeat, was easily induced, chiefly by means of Antonius Primus, the com- mander of one of the legions, to accept the invitation ; and, the two armies being united, they easily induced that of Dalmatia to join them. The revolt of the Mcesian legions was communicated to Vitellius by Aponius Saturninus, the governor of Moesia. He affected to make light of it, but he sent to summon aid from Germany, Spain, and Britain. At length, when the extent of the defection became known, he ordered CcBcina and Valens to make ready for war. As Valens was then unwell, Caecina took the sole command, and the German army marched from Rome, but no longer the same, a few weeks' abode there having sufficed to relax its discipline and destroy its energy. The troops were directed to repair to Cremona and Hostilia; Caecina himself proceeded to Ra- venna, to confer with Lucilius Bassus, the commander of the fleet, and thence to Padua, to watch the course of events. The Flavian generals, meantime^held a consultation as to the best mode of proceeding. Some were for merely se- curing the Pannonian Alps, and waiting for reenforcements ; but Antonius Primus declared vehemently in favor of advan- cing into Italy at once, lest the Vitellians should have time 12* R 138 VITELHUS. [a. d. 69. to recover their discipline, and be joined by troops from Gaul, Spain, and Britain. His opinion prevailed. Letters were written to Aponius, who had declared for the Flavian cause, urging him to come quickly with the Mojsian army. To secure the provinces from the attacks of the barbarians in the absence of the legions, the princes of the Sarmatian Jazyges, and Sido and Italicus, the kings of the Suevians, were taken into alliance. The army then descended into the plain of the Po, and the generals again debated what place should be fixed on for the seat of the war. Vespasian had sent orders for the army to halt at Aquileia, and wait for Mucianus, as, by his own occupation of Egypt, whence It- aly was chiefly supplied with corn, he hoped that want of food and pay would oblige the Vitellians to submit without the hazard of a battle. Mucianus, also, fearing lest the glory of terminating the conquest should be snatched from him- self, wrote several letters to the same effect. But the army had already determined on the attack of Verona, and had occupied Vicenza ( Vicetia) on its way to that town. Caecina had taken a strong position near Hostilia, a Vero- nese village, having a river in his rear, and marshes on his flanks. Though his troops far outnumbered those of the Flavians, which as yet consisted of only two legions, and when joined within a few days by Aponius with another le- gion, were yet inferior, — he negotiated instead of fighting. The Flavians were soon after joined by two other legions, and they then prepared to assault Verona. But a seditioa speedily broke out among them. They accused Aponius and Ampius Flavianus, the legate of Pannonia, of treachery ; and these officers had to fly for their lives, and the sole com- mand remained with Antoniu>s, who was suspected of having excited the mutiny with this very view. Lucilius Bassus now made an attempt to induce the fleet at Ravenna to declare for Vespasian ; but he was seized by his own men, and sent a prisoner to Iladria. Cajcina, who had made a secret agreement with the Flavian party, at first succeeded in inducing his men to declare for Vespasian; but they soon, however, repented, seized him, and put hiui in bonds, and marched back to join the legions that were at Cremona. <^ Antonius, judging that Valens, who was an able officer, and faithful to Vitellius, would soon arrive to take the com- mand, resolved to bring matters to a speedy decision. He therefore quitted Verona, and, advancing toward Cremona, A. D. 69.] ADVANCE OF THE FLAVIANS. 139 encamped at Bedriacum. While tlie legionaries were forti- fying the camp, he sent the auxiliary cohorts to plunder the lands of Cremona, and he himself, with a body of 4,000 horse, advanced for eight miles along the road leading to that city. Toward noon the enemy was announced to be on his' march. An officer named Arrius Varus dashed forward, and charged and drove back, with some slight loss, the Vitellian horse, who were in advance; but, fresh troops coming to their aid, the Flavians were repulsed in their turn. Antonius, however, checked their flight, and routed the Vitellians, who were in pursuit, and drove them back on two of their legions, which had advanced to the fourth mile-stone from Cremona ; and, Vipstanus Messala coming up with the Mojsic auxiliaries, the Vitellian legions were driven back to the town. In the evening, the whole Flavian army came up on the ground where the engagement had taken place. Seeing the heaps of slain, they looked on the war as terminated ; and they were proposing to themselves the storm and plunder of Cremona, from which probably neither the arguments nor the authority of Antonius would have withheld them, had not sonic horsemen, who had been sent forward to reconnoi- tre, reported that the troops from Hostilia had joined, and that the whole strength of the Vitellian army now lay at Cre- mona. This intelligence rendered them obedient to their general ; and, though night was closing in, Antonius placed them in order of battle on the road itself and the lands on each side of it. The Vitellians, who were now without any general officers, were so confident of their own strength, that they would not remain in the town ; and they set forth with the intention of falling on and routing the Flavians, whom they supposed to be exhausted with cold and want of food. It was about nine o'clock when they suddenly fell in with them, drawn up as we have described. A desultory, irregular conflict was maintained through the night. The Vitellians had drawn their artillery all up on the road, whence it was doing great execution, especially a huge balista belonging to the fifteenth legion ; when two gallant soldiers of tMe Flavians, taking up the shields of the Vitellians, that they might not be known, rushed forwards, and, though they lost their lives in the at- tempt, they succeeded in cutting the cords of the engines, and thus rendering them useless. At length the moon rose behind the Flavians, lengthening their shadows, and sriving them a clear view of the enemy, who now fought under a 140 VITELLIUS. [a. d. 69. manifest disadvantage. When the sun appeared, the third (as was the usage in Syria) saluted that lord of day. A re- port ran through both armies, that it was the troops of Muci- anus, who had just arrived, that they were thus greeting. Antonius, taking advantage of the effect of this report, made a steady charge on the loosely-formed Vitellians, who speed- ily broke and fled to Cremona, whither the victorious Fla- vians lost no time in following them. But when they ap- proached the town, they saw a labor before them which they had not expected. In the beginning of the war, the German army, when it entered Italy, had fixed a strongly-fortified camp under the walls of Cremona; and its strength had been lately augmented very considerably. The Flavians saw that they must either attack and carry this camp, or return to Bedriacum, or adopt the hazardous course of encamping in view of a numerous army. They chose the first course, perilous as it was ; the gates and ramparts were assailed : when their efforts slackened, one of their leaders (Antonius, as some said) pointed to Cremona as their reward, and their exertions were renewed. At length the tenth burst open one of the gates and rushed in ; the camp was speedily carried, and the Vitellians were slaughtered in vast numbers as they made their escape to the town. Their loss in this and the preceding actions is said to have exceeded 30,000 men, while that of the Flavians amounted only to 4,500.* The city of Cremona was defended by lofty walls, and towers, and massive gates. Its population was numerous, and, this being the time of one of its fairs, it was full of peo- ple from the rest of Italy. This last circumstance, however, acted as an incentive on the Flavians, who reckoned that the plunder would be by so much the greater. The assault waa therefore commenced : at first the resistance was vigorous, but gradually it slackened, as the Vitellian officers began to reflect that, if Cremona were taken by storm, they had no further place of refuge, and that it was on them that the ven- geance of the victors would fall. They therefore set Ca;cina at liberty, and prayed him to be their mediator ; they threw aside the standards of Vitellius, and displayed tokens of sup plication from the walls. Antonius then ordered his men to cease, and the Vitellians marched out with the honors of war. The Flavians at first insulted them; but, when they marked their humble demeanor, and called to mind that these * Josephus, Jewish War, iv. 11. Hegesippus, iv. 30. A. D. 69.] STORMING OF CREMONA. 141 were the men who had used their victory at Bedriacum with such moderation, they felt compassion. But when Caicina appeared with the consular ensigns, they could not control their indignation, and Antonius had difficulty to save him. Antonius either could not or would not save the town ; 40,00U soldiers, and a still greater number of camp followers, the more terrible of the two on such an occasion, rushed in. The usual series of atrocities, murder, rape, robbery, torture, enacted in towns taken by storm, ensued. The town was fired in various parts; it burned for four days; at the end of which time a solitary temple without the gates alone re- mained to testify the former existence of Cremona. Vitellius, meantime, was thinking only of his sensual enjoy- ments.* Valens, with a train of women and eunuchs, was moving leisurely onwards, when he heard of the treachery of Cajcina and Lucilius Bassus. Instead of hastening by forced marches to Cremona, or making some daring effort, he still loitered, and thought only of seducing the wives and daughters of his hosts. lie fell back into Umbria, and thence into Etruria, where, hearing of the loss of the battle at Cremona, he seized some shipping and made sail for Nar- bonese Gaul, with the intention of exciting the Gauls and Germans to arms. But his project failed; and, being driven by a storm to some islets near Marseilles, he was there taken by the ships sent by the Flavians in pursuit of him. The whole of Italy north and east of the Apennines was now in the hands of the Flavians. As the winter was ap- proaching, and the Po was beginning to overflow, Antonius resolved to make no further delay; and, leaving the sick and wounded, and a part of the legionaries, at Verona, he ad- vanced with the remainder to Fano, {Fanuin FortuncB.) Vi- tellius had sent fourteen praetorian cohorts and all his cavalry to defend the passage of the Apennines, committing the defence of the city to his brother L. Vitellius and the remain- ing praetorian cohorts. He occupied himself with remitting tributes, granting immunities, appointing consuls for a series of years, and such like useless or pernicious acts, never in- termitting the pleasures of the table till he learned that the army insisted on his presence with it. He then set out with a great number of the senators, and joined it at Mevania ; but the total ignorance of war which he displayed, and his * " Unibraculis hortorum abditus, (ut ignava animalia, quibus si ci- bum sugcreras, jacent torpentque,) prseterita, instantia, futura pari obli- vione dimiserat." Tacitus. 142 VITELLIUS. [a. D. 69. continual drunkenness, proved how unqualified he was for empire. Instead of crossing the Apennines and attacking the enemy, who was suffering from the weather, and from want of supplies in an exhausted country, he frittered away the strength of his army, and exposed it to be cut up in de- tail. Tidings of the revolt of the fleet at Misenum gave him a pretext for returning to Rome ; he there learned fur- ther, that the people of Puteoli and other towns had joined in the revolt, and the officer, whom he sent to recall the sol- diers to their duty, declared for Vespasian, and occupied Tarracina. The disgraceful departure of Vitellms imboldened the people of the Sabellian race to manifest their inclination to the Flavian cause. Antonius, also, though the weather was foul and the snow deep, crossed the Apennines, which he never, perhaps, could have achieved, had Vitellius been other than he was. As he was advancing, he was met by Petillius Cerialis, an able officer, and a connection of Vespasian's, who had escaped from confinement in the garb of a peasant. Ce- rialis was forthwith associated in the command of the army, which encamped at Carsulae, within ten miles of the Vitel- lians. Here the Flavians were joined by the troops from Verona. Desertion soon spread among the Vitellians ; and, when the head of Valens, who had been put to death at Ur- bino, was brought and shown to them, they gave up all hopes, and consented to declare for Vespasian. Frequent messages were at this time sent by the Flavian generals to Vitellius, offering him a large income and a retreat in Campania, if he would give over the contest. Mucianus wrote to the same effect; and Vitellius was beginning to speak of the number of slaves he should require and the place he should select; for, as Tacitus says, " such a torpor had seized his mind, that, if others had not remembered that he was an emperor, he would have forgotten it himself" The prefect of the city at this time was Flavins Sabinus, the elder brother of Vespasian ; for a generous or prudent policy of sparing the relatives of each other, of which Otho had set the example, prevailed among the rival candidates for empire. Vespasian's younger son, Domitianus, was also at Rome and in safety. Sabinus was strongly urged, by the principal persons in the city, to put himself at the head of the urban cohorts and the watchmen, with their own slaves, and seize the city for his brother ; but he was a man of mild temper, and averse from civil bloodshed ; he therefore pre- A. D. 69.] AFFAIRS AT ROME. 143 ferred the way of negotiation • he had several private meet- ings with Vitellius, and they finally came to an arrangement in the temple of Apollo, it was said, in the presence of two witnesses. Vitellius's friends, when they heard of it, did all in their power to make him break the agreement, but to no purpose. On the 18th of December, when news came of the defection of the troops at Narnia, he came down from the palace, clad in black, having his young son in a litter with him, and addressed the people and soldiery in the Forum, telling them that he retired for the sake of peace and the re- public; and commending to them his family. He then, in token of his resignation, handed his dagger to the consul, who declined to receive it. He moved toward the temple of Concord, to deposit his ensigns there, and then retire to the adjoining house of his brother; but the people and the German soldiers opposed his passage, and forced him to re- turn to the palace. The principal persons of both orders, hearing that Vitel- lius had abdicated, had repaired to the house of Sabinus, where the urban cohorts and the watchmen were also assem- bled. When they heard of the conduct of the populace and the German cohorts, feeling that they had gone too far to recede, they resolved to have recourse to arms. A skirmish speedily took place with some of the Vitellians, in which they were worsted ; and Sabinus then retired to the Capitol, with his soldiers and some of the knights and senators. Dur- ing the night, as the guard of the Vitellians was slack, he caused his children and nephew to be brought thither ; and at the same time he sent to apprize the Flavian generals of his situation. As soon as it was light, Sabinus sent a centurion to remon- strate with Vitellius on his breach of faith. Vitellius at- tempted to excuse himself, by declaring his want of power to restrain his soldiers. The centurion was obliged to retire by the rear of the house to elude them; and he had hardly returned to the Capitol when they advanced to the assault. They assailed the portico of the temple with flaming brands; Sabinus caused the statues to be all pulled down and piled up behind the doors, to serve as a barrier. They then made their attacks at all the approaches, especially that by the Asylum. The edifice at length burst into flames, whether fired by the besieged or the besiegers was uncertain ; and thus was the temple of the tutelar deities of Rome destroyed for the second time, in the midst of civil commotions. Un- daunted by the flames, the Vitellians rushed in : few of the 144 VITELLIUS. [a. d. 69. defenders made resistance ; most sought to escape in various ways, and generally with success. Domitian was concealed by the keeper of the temple ; and next day he got away, dis- guised as one of the ministers of Isis. Sabinus and the con- sul Atticus were seized and dragged into the presence of Vitellius. In vain the powerless emperor wished to save the former ; he was murdered before his eyes. Atticus escaped by declaring that it was he himself that had fired the temple. The Flavians were keeping the Saturnalia, at Otriculum, when they heard of the late events at Rome. Cerialis ad- vanced immediately, with a body of a thousand horse, to enter the city by the Salarian road, while Antonius led the remainder of the army along the Flaminian. The night was advanced, when, at a place named the Red Rocks, (Saxa Rubra,) he was informed of the burning of the Capitol and the death of Sabinus. Cerialis was repulsed, when he ap- proached the city, and driven back to Fidenpe ; and the popu- lace, elated at this success of their party, took up arms for Vitellius, and demanded to be led to battle. He thanked them for their zeal, but he preferred negotiation to arms. He sent deputies to both Cerialis and Antonius, and the Vestal Virgins were the bearers of a letter to the latter. The holy maidens were treated with all due respect ; but the answer returned to Vitellius was, that the murder of Sabi- nus and the burning of the Capitol had put an end to all hopes of peace. Antonius having made a fruitless effort to induce his troops to halt for one day at the Mulvian bridge, they ad- vanced to the assault, in three bodies, along the Tiber and the Salarian and Flaminian roads. The Vitellians opposed them vigorously at all points ; success was various, but fortune mostly favored the Flavians. The people looked on, as if it had been the sports of the amphitheatre, cheering the vic- tors, and requiring those who sought refuge any where to be dragged out and slain. They also plundered the dead. In some parts of the city there were the flashing of arms and the sounds of combat ; while in others, the usual course of debauchery was going on, and the baths and the taverns were filled with their daily visitors. It was at the praetorian camp that the battle raged the loudest. Pride urged the old prae- torians to recover their camp ; their successors were de- termined to die rather than yield it up. Every kind of en- gine was employed against it; at length an entrance was forced, and all its defenders were slain. When the city was taken, Vitellius had himself conveyed A. D. 70.] MURDER OF VITELLIUS. 145 in a sedan to the house of his wife, on the Aventine, intend- ing to steal away, during the night, to Tarracina, which his brother had recovered. But he changed his mind, and re- turned to the palace. He found it deserted ; and, as he roamed its empty halls, his spirit failed, and he concealed himself in the porter's lodge, hiding under the bed and bed- clothes. Here he was found and dragged out by a Flavian tribune. His hands were tied behind his back ; a rope waa put about his neck ; his robe was torn ; a sword was set under his chin to make him hold up his head ; some reviled him, others pelted him with mud and dirt. He was thus led along the Sacred Way ; and, at the Gemonian Stairs, he was hacked to death, and his body was then dragged away and flung into the Tiber. CHAPTER H.* THE FLAVIAN FAMILY. A.u. 823— 849. A.D. 70— 96. STATE OF AFFAIRS AT ROME. GERMAN WAR. CAPTURE AND DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. RETURN OF TITUS. VES- PASIAN. CHARACTER OF HIS GOVERNMENT. HIS DEATH. CHARACTER AND REIGN OF TITUS. — PUBLIC CALAMITIES. DEATH OF TITUS. CHARACTER OF DOMITIAN. CON- QUEST OF BRITAIN. DACIAN WAR. OTHER WARS. CRU- ELTY OF DOMITIAN. HIS DEATH. LITERATURE OF THIS PERIOD. T. Flavins Sabinus Vespasianus. A. u. 823—832. A. D. 70—79. The death of Vitellius terminated the civil war, but it did not yet restore tranquillity to the empire. Rome presented the appearance of a conquered city. The victorious Flavi- ans pursued and slaughtered the Vitellians in all quarters , * Authorities : Suetonius and Dion. CONTIN. 13 S 146 VESPASIAN. [a. d. 69. houses were broken open and robbed, and their owners, if they resisted, were murdered. Complaint and lamentation were heard on all sides. The generals were unable to re- strain their men, and the evil was left to exhaust itself. The troops were soon, however, led as far as BovilliE and Aricia, to oppose L. Vitellius, who was reported to be on his march against the city ; but he and his cohorts surrendered at dis- cretion, and he was led to Rome and put to death. The same was the fate of a few more of the friends of Vitellius ; among whom may be mentioned his freedman Asiaticus. Some persons were prosecuted and punished for their acts in the time of Nero ; among whom it is gratifying to mention the philosopher Egnatius Celer, the friend and prosecutor of Soranus. The senate decreed all the usual imperial honors to Ves- pasian ; the consulship for the ensuing year to him ; to his eldest son, the praetorship ; and the consular authority to Do- mitian. The consular ensigns were decreed to Antonius Pri-' mus; the praetorian, to Cornelius Fuscus and Arrius Varus; and the triumphal, to Mucianus, for his success against the Sarmatians. The supreme power lay nominally with Domi- tian ; but its reality was in the hands of Antonius, from whom, however, it passed to Mucianus, who speedily arrived. Mucianus acted in all things as if he were a partner of the empire; Domitian also exercised such imperial power, that his father, it is said, wrote to him one time, saying, " I thank you, son, for allowing me to reign, and for not having de- posed me." Vespasian did not arrive at Rome till toward the end of the year. As the Roman arms were at this time occupied by two distinct enemies in different parts of the world, the Germans and tlie Jews, and both wars were concluded in this year, we will here briefly notice them. The origin of the German war was as follows : The Bata- vians, a tribe of the Chattans, being expelled from their ori- ginal seats, had settled in the north-eastern extremity of Gaul, and in the island formed by the branches of the Rhine. They were in alliance with the Romans, on the usual terms, and therefore supplied them with troops; their cavalry, from its activity and the skill and boldness with which it was known to cross the deepest and most rapid rivers, was always greatly prized in the Roman service; and the Batavian co- horts had very much distinguished themselves both in Britain and at Bedriacum. Two brothers, named Julius Paulus and A. D. 69.] INSURRECTION OF CIVILIS. 147 Claudius Civilis, had held of late the chief command of the Batavian troops. The former was put to death by Fonteius Capito, on a false charge of disaffection in the time of Nero, and the latter was sent in chains to Rome. He was acquit- ted by Gall)a, but he ran fresh danger from Vitellius, as the army was clamorous for his execution. He, however, escaped, and returned to his own country, where, under the pretence of acting for Vespasian, he prepared to cast off the Roman yoke. He first induced the Batavians to refuse the levy or- dered by Vitellius, and then proposed to the Canninifates, a neighboring p^ple, to join the league; he also sent to solicit the Batavian cohorts, that had been sent back from Bedria- cum, and were now at Mentz, [M(t pontine urn.) The Cannin- ifates, choosing one of their nobles, named Brinno, for their leader, and having associated with them the trans-Rhenic Frisians, attacked and took the winter camp of two cohorts on the sea-coast. Civilis at first pretended great zeal for the Romans ; but, when he found tliat his designs were seen through, he joined Brinno openly, and their united forces, aided by the treachery of a Tungrian cohort and of the Bata- vian rowers in the ships, succeeded in defeating a body of Roman troops, and capturing their fleet of four-and-twenty vessels. Hordeonius ordered Lupercus, one of his legates, to march against the rebels with two legions, Ubian and Tre- virian auxiliaries, and some Batavian cavalry. Lupercus therefore crossed the river; Civilis gave him battle; in the midst of the encratrement, the Batavian horse went over to their countrymen ; the auxiliaries fled in confusion, and the leorionaries were obliged to take refiige in the Old Camp. Meantime a messenger from Civilis had overtaken the Ba- tavian cohorts that were on their march for Italy. They im- mediately began, as a pretext for defection, to demand a donative, double pay, and other advantages promised by Vi- tellius; and Hordeonius having tried in vain to satisfy them, they set out to join Civilis. Hordeonius then, resolving to have recourse to force, sent orders to Herennius Callus, who commanded at Bonn, [Bonna,) to .stop them in front while he himself should press on their rear. He soon, however, changed his mind, and sent word to Herennius to let them pass. But the latter yielded to the instances of his men, and led out his forces of 3,000 legionaries, some Belgian cohorts, and a train of camp followers, against the Batavians. The latter, inferior in number, but superior in discipline, drove them back with great slaughter to their camp, and then. 148 VESPASIAN. [a. d. 69. continuing their route without furtlier molestation, joined Civilis. The arrival of these veteran cohorts inspired Civilis with confidence; but, still aware of the power of Rome, he made all his men take the oath of fidelity to Vespasian. He sent to invite the two legions in the Old Camp to do the same ; but, meetincr with a scornful refusal, he resolved to attack them without further delay. He had now been joined by some of the Germans, and his army was numerous. On the other hand, the Romans did not exceed 5,000 men, and they had to defend a camp made for two legions. A general assault was at first tried ; and, when it did not succeed, Civilis, aware that the supply of provisions in the camp was very short, re- solved to trust to the surer course of blockade. But vast numbers of Germans having now flocked to him, to gratify their ardor he tried another assault. It, however, also failed, and he then resumed the blockade. Meantime he ceased not to urge by letters the people of Gaul to insurrection ; and disafleclion in consequence prevailed extensively throughout that country. Hordeonius, unable to control the mutinous spirit of his troops, gave the command of the force which he sent to raise the siege of the Old Camp to the legate Dillius Vocula. This officer advanced as far as Gelduba, and there encamped. Meantime, tidings of the battle of Cremona arrived ; and, on the receipt of letters from Antonius Primus, with an edict of CiEcina as consul, Hordeonius made his men take the oath to Vespasian. An envoy was then sent to Civilis, to inform him that he had now no further pretext for war, and to re- quire him to lay down his arms. He, however, refused, and he sent off" the veteran cohorts with the Germans to attack the forces at Gelduba, while he himself remained to keep up the blockade of the Old Camp. These troops came so sud- denly on Vocula, that he had not time to draw out his men ; and, the cowardice or defection of some Nervian cohorts aid- ing the enemy, they were on the very point of obtaining a complete victory, when some Gascon coliorts came suddenly up, and fell on their rear. The Batavians, taking them for the entire Roman army, lost courage, and, being now assailed in front and rear, were put to flight with loss. Vocula then marched lo the relief of the Old Camp. Civilis gave hiin battle in front of it; but a sally of the besieged, and a fall of Civilis himself from his horse, and a report that he was slain or wounded, damped the spirit of his men, and Vocula forced A. D. 70.] INSURRECTION OF CIVILIS. 149 his way into the camp, which he secured with additional works. A convoy, which he sent to fetch corn from Nova- sium, being attacked on its return by Civilis, and forced to take refuge in the camp at Gelduba, he drew a good part of the troops out of the Old Camp, and went with them to tlieir relief. Civilis then renewed the siege of the Old Camp; and when Vocula went on to Novasium, the Batavian general captured Gelduba, and then came off victorious in a cavalry action near Novasium. Mutiny now prevailed to a great ex- tent in the Roman army, llordeonius was murdered by his own men, and Vocula had to make his escape disguised as a slave. The success of Civilis, and the intelligence of the taking of Rome, and the death of Vitellius, excited the Gauls to think of asserting their independence. Classicus, the com- mander of the Trevirian cavalry, opened a correspondence with Civilis. Julius Tutor, the prefect of the bank of the Rhine, and Julius Sabinus, a leading man among the Lingo- nians, joined wjth Classicus, and measures were taken to insure the cooperation of their countrymen. Vocula had information of their plans; but he felt himself too weak to oppose them, and he affected to give credit to their protesta- tions of fidelity. When, however, he marched to the relief of the Old Camp, Classicus and Tutor, having arranged mat- ters with Civilis, formed their camp apart from that of the legions. Vocula, having vainly essayed to reduce them to obedience, led, as we have seen, his army back to Novasium. The Gauls encamped two miles off, and (strange and novel event!) Classicus and Tutor succeeded in inducing the Ro- man soldiers to declare against their own country, and aban- don their general. Vocula was murdered by a deserter from the first legion ; his legates were confined : Classicus entered the camp with imperial ensigns, and the soldiers took the oath to the empire of the Gauls. The troops in the Old Camp, worn out with famine, now surrendered ; all the win- ter quarters beyond the Rhine, except those at Mentz and Windisch, {Vindonissa,) were burnt; Cologne and other towns submitted to the conquerors ; the Gallic nations, how- ever, with the exception of the Trevirians and Lingonians, and a few others, remained faithful to Rome. Sabinus, causing himself to be proclaimed C?Bsar, invaded the terri- tory of the Sequanians; but his disorderly levies were totally routed ; and he himself, flying to one of his country-seats, 13* 150 VESPASIAN. [a. d. 70. burned it over his head, that it might be believed that he had perished, while he reserved himself for better times.* Such was the state of affairs when Cerialis came from Rome to conduct the German war. He fixed his head-quar- ters at Mentz, and the success of his first operations checked the progress of the rebellion. He thence advanced to Treves, where Civilis and Classicus, having in vain solicited him to assume the empire of the Gauls, resolved to give him battle. Early in the morning, a sudden attack was made on the Ro- man camp by a combined army of Gauls, Germans, and Ba- tavians. Cerialis, who had lain out of the camp, hastened to it, unarmed as he was, and found his men giving way on all sides. By great personal exertions he restored the battle, and the enemy was at length forced to retire. Civilis then, having received fresh troops from Germany, took his position at the Old Camp. Cerialis, who had also been reenforced by two legions, followed him thither. Civilis gave him battle ; the contest was long doubtful ; at length, the treachery of a Batavian, who deserted, and conducted a body of Roman horse into the rear of Civilis's army, decided the fortune of the day. Civilis then retired with Classicus, Tutor, and some of the principal men of the Trevirians, into the Bata- vian island, whither Cerialis, for want of shipping, could not pursue them ; and issuing thence again, they attacked the Romans in various places, who, in turn, passed over to the island and ravaged it. The approach of winter, during which the toil of carrying on a war amidst bogs and marshes would be intolerable, disposed Cerialis to seek an accommo- dation, to which Civilis, who saw that his countrymen were weary of war, was equally well inclined. The two leaders had an interview to arrange the terms. Civilis received a pardon; the confederates were released from all demands of tribute, and only required to supply troops as heretofore. While such was the state of affairs in the west, Titus had brought the Jewish war to a fortunate conclusion. The Jews, as we have seen, had been for some years under the government of a Roman president. Those selected for that office, such as Felix and Festus, had been usually tyran- * His place of refuge was a subterraneous cavern, where he remained concealed for nine years. His wife (who bore him two children in the cavern) and two of his freedmen alone knew of his retreat. He was at lenglii discovered, and led to Rome, where Vespasian, with a harsh- ness unusual to him, caused both him and Ws wife to be executed. Dion, Ixvi. 16. Plut. Amat. p. 1372. A. D. 63-64.] JEWISH WAR. 151 nic and avaricious men ; and they oppressed the people be- yond measure. On the other liand, the Jews, in reliance on the words of" their prophets, looked every day for the appear- ance of their conquering Messiah, who was not merely to deliver them from bondage, but to make them lords and rulers over all nations. They also believed that they were forbidden by their law to submit to the rule of a stranger. From all these causes, insurrections were frequent in Judaja, and they were punished with great severity in the usual Roman manner. Bands of robbers swarmed in the country, among whom were particularly remarkable those called Sica- rians, from the dagger (sira) which they carried concealed in their garments, and with which they used secretly to stab their enemies even in the open day, in the streets, and chiefly at the time of the great festivals. In some points they seem to have resembled the Assassins of a far later period. False prophets were also continually appearing and leading the people into destruction. In the eleventh year of Nero, (C:?,) Gessius Florus was appointed procurator of Judsa. The tyranny which he exercised passed all endurance, and in the second year of liis government (64) the whole Jewish nation took up arms against the dominion of Rome. The Roman garrison of Je- rusalem was massacred ; on the other hand, great numbers of Jews were slaughtered at Cajsarea and Alexandria, and they, in their turn, destroyed Samaria, Askalon, and several other towns. Cestius Gallus, the governor of Syria, seeing that matters had assumed so serious a form, entered the country at the head of a large army, and advanced as far as Jerusalem ; but, being foiled in the first attempts which he made on that city, instead of persevering, when, according to the most competent authority, he could have taken the city and prevented all the future calamities, he drew off his army and retired with disgrace. The Jews forthwith began to prepare for the war, which they now saw to be inevitable. They appointed military governors for all the provinces, among whom was Josephus, the historian of the war, to whom was given the province of Galilee. When Nero was informed by Cestius of the state of affairs in Judaea, he saw the necessity of committing the conduct of the war to a man of military talent and experience. The person on whom he fixed was Voi.pasian, who had already distinguished himself both in Germany and Britain. Ves- pasian set forth without delay, proceeding overland to Syria, 152 VESPASIAN. [a. d. 65-70. while he sent his son Titus to Egypt, to lead to him two legions from that province. At Antioch he received from Musianus, then president of Syria, one legion ; and, when joined by his son, he found himself at the head of an army of about 60,000 men, including the auxiliary troops of the different Asiatic princes and states. The Roman army rendezvoused at Ptolemais, (Acre,) whence it advanced into Galilee, (65.) The city of Gadara was taken at the first assault ; and Vespasian then laid siece to Jotopata, the strongest place in the province, and of which Josephus himself conducted the defence. The Jews, favored by the natural strength of the place, made a most gallant resistance ; but, on the forty-seventh day of the siege, a traitor revealed to Vespasian the secret of the actual weakness of the garrison, and showed how the town might be surprised. The city accordingly fell, and an indiscriminate massacre was made of all the male inhabitants. Josephus became a prisoner to the Roman general, by whom he was treated with much consideration ; and he thus had the excellent opportunity, of which he availed himself, for relating the events of the war. Few other places in Galilee oifered resistance; the towns on the coast were all in the hands of the Romans; Vespasian had advanced southwards and placed garrisons in Jericho and other towns round Jerusalem, and he was preparing to lay siege to that city, when he received intelligence of the death of Nero, (68.) He then put aside all thoughts of the siege for the present, waiting to see what course events would take in Italy, and retired to Cssarea for the winter. In the spring, (69,) he had resumed operations against the Jews, when news came of the battle of Bedriacum, and the elevation of Vitellius to the empire. We have already re- lated what thence resulted, and the consequent suspension of the Jewish war. Vespasian was at Alexandria when he heard of the death of Vitellius, and of himself being declared emperor by the senate. He resolved now to prosecute the Jewish war, and, Titus having left Egypt and proceeded to Cassarea early in the spring, (70,) and being there joined by the remainder of the army destined for the siege of Jerusalem, advanced against the devoted city, at the head of an army composed of four legions, with their due number of cohorts and auxil- iaries. As the festival of the Passover occurred about this time, the city was thronged with an immense number of A. D. 70.] JEWISH WAR. 153 people from all parts of Judaea, and the Jewish nation was thus, as it were, enveloped in the net of destruction. Of no siege, in ancient times, have the events been trans- mitted with the same degree of minuteness as that of Jeru- salem ; for Josephus, the historian of them, was a Jew of noble birth, and he was present in the Roman camp, and on a footing of friendship with Titus. Versed in both the Greek and Hebrew languages, and acquainted, personally, with the principal persons on both sides, he had the oppor- tunity of learning the exact truth of every event ; and his ve- racity has never been called in question. As the destruction of Jerusalem was accurately foretold by the divine Author of our religion, the narrative of the siege possesses additional importance in the eyes of all Christians. The proper place, however, for the detailed narration of it is the History of the Jews ; in the limits to which the present work is neces- sarily restricted, we feel it impossible to give such an ac- count as would content the reasonable curiosity of the reader, and shall therefore only aim at a general view of this ruin of the Jewish nation. The great body of the people of Jerusalem were anxious to submit to the Romans ; and Titus, on his part, would most willingly have granted them favorable terms. But all the robbers and Sicarians had repaired to the city, and, under the name of Zealots, they seized on the whole power. They were divided into three hostile parties, having but one prin- ciple in common, namely, to oppose the Romans, and to oppress and murder the unhappy people. In their madness, they early destroyed the greater part of the magazines of corn, and famine soon began to spread its ravages. The sufferings of the people were beyond description ; if they remained in the city, they perished of hunger ; if they were caught attempting to escape from it, they were barbarously murdered by the Zealots; if they succeeded in making their escape, they were murdered by the Syrians and Arabians in the Roman army, for the gold, which it was discovered they used to swallow. The siege lasted for nearly seven months. The Romans had to carry each of the three walls, and all the quarters of the city, successively. Titus was anxious to save the mag- nificent temple of the God of Israel ; but one of the Roman soldiers set fire to it, and the stately edifice became a prey to the flames. The Upper City, as it was named, was still defended, but the Romans finally carried it ; and the whole T 154 VESPASIAN. [a.u. 70. city, with the exception of three of the towers, left to show its former strength, was demolished. Josephus computes the number of those who perished in the siege and capture of the city at 1,100,000, and those who were made prisoners during the war, at 97,000 persons. Of these, those under Beventeen years of age were sold for slaves ; of the rest, some were sent to the provinces to fight with each other, or with wild beasts, for the amusement of the people in the theatres ; the greater part were condemned to work, in the quarries of Egypt. On the occasion of the conquest of Jerusalem, Titus was saluted emperor by his army ; and, when he was about to depart from the province, they insisted that he should either remain or take them with him. This, combined with the circumstance of his wearing a diadem, (though according to the established usage,) some time after, when consecra- ting the holy calf Apis at Memphis in Egypt, gave occasion to a suspicion that he meditated to revolt from his father and establish a kingdom for himself in the East. He there- fore lost no time in repairing to Italy, whither Vespasian had proceeded long before. When he arrived unexpected- ly at Rome, he addressed his father in these words : " I am come, father, I am come," to show the absurdity of the re- ports respecting him. Vespasian, however, kuew his noble son too well to have had any suspicion of him. He cele- brated with him a joint triumph for the conquest of Judasa; he made him his colleague in the censorship, the tribunate, and seven consulates, and gave him the command of the praetorian cohorts. He transferred to him most of the busi- ness of the state, authorizing him to write letters and issue edicts in his name. He, in effect, made him his colleague in the empire ; and he never had occasion, for one moment, to rewret his confidence. Titus Flavins Vespasianus, the present ruler of the Roman world, was somewhat past his sixtieth year when called to the empire. He was born near Reate, in the Sabine country, of a family which was merely respectable. He commenced his public life as a tribune in the army in Thrace; he rose to the rank of prajtor, and he served as a legate in Germany and Britain, in which last country he distinguished himself greatly as a general, and was honored with the triumphal ensigns; and he afterwards obtained the government of Afri- ca. Finally, as we have seen, he was selected for the con- duct of the Jewish war. In all the offices which he held, A. D. 70-79.] CHARACTER OF VESPASIAN. 155 Vespasian had behaved with justice, honor, and humanity ; and there was, perhaps, no man at the time better calculated for the important post of head of the Roman empire. The first cares of Vespasian were directed to the restora- tion of discipline in the army, and of order in the finances. He discharged a great part of the Vitellian soldiers, and he treated his own with strictness, not giving them even their just rewards for some time, to make them sensible of his authority. In consequence of the wasteful extravagance of Nero, and the late civil wars, the revenues of the state were in such a condition, that Vespasian declared, on his acces- sion, that no less a sum than 40,000,000,000 sesterces were absolutely requisite to carry on the government. He there- fore reestablished all the taxes that Galba had remitted, and \ imposed new ones; he increased, and in some cases doubled, the tributes of the provinces ; he even engaged in various branches of traffic, buying low and selling high. He was accused of selling places and pardons, and of making proc- urators of those known to be most rapacious, that he might condemn thetn when they were grown rich, " using them," as it was said, " as sponges, wetting them when dry, and squeezing them out when wet." Granting, however, that Vespasian was rapacious of money, it was not to hoard it or to squander it on pleasures. He was liberal both to the public and to all orders of the people. He rebuilt the Capitol, and he collected copies of the brazen tablets (three thousand in number) of the sena- tus-consults and plebiscits, which had been melted in the con- flagration. He built a temple to Peace, one to the emperor Claudius, and an amphitheatre which had been designed by Augustus. He gave large sums to various cities which had suffered from fires or earthquakes. He settled annual pen- sions on those men of consular rank who were in narrow circumstances. He was liberal to poets, rhetoricians, and artists of all kinds. Early in his reign, Vespasian made a diligent examination of the senatorian and equestrian orders. He expelled the more unworthy members of both, and supplied their places with the most respectable of the Italians and the provincials. He seems in this to have been actuated by his military notions \ of the unity and identity which should pervade the empire ; for the superiority of the Roman citizens was thus taken away, the path to all honors now lying equally open to the provincials. It was probably the same principle that caused him to de- 156 VESPASIAN. [a. D. 70-79. prive Lycia, Cilicia, Thrace, Rhodes, Samos, and other places, of the independence which they had hitherto enjoyed, and reduce them to the form of provinces. Vespasian was never ashamed of the humbleness of his origin, and he laughed at those who attempted to deduce the Flavian family from one of the companions of Hercules. He retained no enmities ; he procured a very high match for the daughter of Vitellius, and gave her a dowry and outfit. When warned to beware of Metius Pomposianus, who was said to have an imperial nativity, he made him consul. Even during the civil war, he omitted the practice of searching those who came to salute the emperor. The doors of the palace stood always open, and there was no guard at them. He constantly had the senators and other persons of respecta- bility to dine with him, and he dined with them in return. In his mode of living he was simple and temperate. Vespasian banished the philosophers and the astrologers from Rome. These last were extremely mischievous, med- dling in all affairs of state; and they had been objects of y[ suspicion ever since the time of Augustus. In his proceed- ' ings against the philosophers, he was actuated by Mucianus, who represented to him that the Stoics were dangerous as republicans, and the Cynics as the enemies of decency and morality. The death of Helvidius Priscus, which is esteemed a stain on the memory of Vespasian, may be ascribed to his i Stoicism and republicanism. When the emperor came to Rome, Helvidius addressed him as plain Vespasian ; in his edicts as praetor, he treated him with neglect and disrespect ; and in the senate behaved toward him with such insolence, that he quitted the house in tears. Helvidius was relegated, and finally put to death, we know not on what account ; but Vespasian is said to have sent to countermand the order when it was too late. Toward the end of his reign, a conspiracy was formed against him by Cajcina and Marcellus, both of whom stood high in his friendship, and had received all the honors of the state. The plot being discovered, Ca?cina was seized as he was coming out from dining with the emperor, and put to death by the orders of Titus, lest he should raise a dis- turbance in the night, as he had gained over several of the soldiers. Marcellus, being condemned by the senate, cut his own throat with a razor. Vespasian was but once married. His wife having died long before he came to the empire, he lived with Caenis, the A. D. 79.] DEATH OF VESPASIAN. 157 freedwoman of Antonia, whom he treated as a wife, rather than a mistress. He allowed her to make traffic of the offices of the state, by which she amassed large sums of money; and the emperor was suspected of sharing in her gains. This able prince had nearly completed the tenth year of his reign, when he was attacked by a feverish complaint, in Campania. lie returned to the city, and thence hastened to his native Sabine land, about Cutilia) and Reate, where he was in the habit of spending the summer, and tried the cold springs of the place, but witiiout effect. He attended to public business to the last : when he felt the approach of death, "An emperor," said he, "should die standing;" and being supported in that posture, he met his fate, in the seventieth year of his age. T. Flavius Sahinus Vespasianus II. A. u. 832—834. A. D. 79—81. Titus Flavius Vespasianus was born in the year of the death of the emperor Caius. He was brought up at the court of Claudius, as the companion of the young Britanni- cus. When he grew up, he served as a tribune in Germany and Britain, and he afterwards held a high command in the army of Judfea. In person, Titus was rather short, with a projecting stomach. He was eminently skilled in all martial exercises ; he had a remarkable memory ; could make verses extempore, in either Greek or Latin; and was well skilled in music. He could imitate any hand-writing ; and, as he said himself, wanted only the will, to be the most expert of forgers. Many people feared that Titus might prove a second Nero. He was accused of having put various persons to death in the late reign, and of having taken money from others for his interest with his father. His revels, prolonged till mid- night, gave occasion to suspicions of luxury ; and the crowds of eunuchs, and such like persons about him, excited suspi- cions of a darker hue. People also feared that he would espouse (contrary to Roman usage) the Jewish queen Bere- nice, who had followed him to Rome, and lived with him in the palace, acting as if she were already empress. CONTIN. 14 158 TITUS. [a. d. 80-81. All these fears were, however, agreeably disappointed ; and Titus, when emperor, acted in such a manner as to be justly named the Love and Delight of Mankind. He sent away the fair Jewish queen, though it cost him a severe struggle.* He reduced his train of eunuchs; he retrenched the lu.\ury of his table ; he selected his friends from among the best men of the time. In liberality no one surpassed him ; while preceding princes used to regard the gifts of their predeces- sors as invalid, unless they were given over again by them- selves, Titus, unsolicited, confirmed by one edict all the pre- ceding grants. He could not bear to refuse any one ; and when those about him observed that he promised more than he could perform, he replied, " No one ought to retire dis- satisfied from the presence of the prince." At dinner, one time, recollecting that he had done nothing for any one that day, he cried, " Friends, I have lost a day." When he took the office of chief pontiff", he declared that he did it that he might keep his hands free from blood ; and during his reign not a single person was put to death. Though his brother was constantly conspiring against him, he could not be induced to treat him with rigor. When two patricians had been convicted of a conspiracy against him, he contented himself with exhorting them to desist, for that the empire was given by fate. He even despatched couriers to assure the mother of one of them of her son's safety ; and he invited them to dinner, and treated them with the utmost confidence. He constantly said that he would rather die than cause the death of any one.t Titus would never allow any prosecutions on the charge / of treason. " /," said he, " cannot be injured or insulted, \ for I do nothing deserving of reproach, and I care not for those who speak falsely ; and as for the departed emperors, if they are in reality demigods, and have power, they will avenge themselves on those who injure them." He was very severe against the informers ; he caused them to be beaten with rods and cudgels, led through the amphitheatre, and then to be sold for slaves, or confined in the most rugged islands. The reign of this excellent prince was marked by a series of public calamities. He had reigned only two months when a tremendous volcanic eruption, the first on record, * " Berenicen statim ab urbe dimisit invitus invitam." Sueton. i " Periturum se potius quam perditurura." A. D. 80-81.] ERUPTION OF VESUVIUS. 159 iVorn Mount Vesuvius, spread dismay through Italy. This niountaiu liad hitherto formed the most beautiful feature in the landscape of Campania, being clad with vines and other agreeable trees and plants. Earthquakes had of late years been of frequent occurrence ; but on the 24th of August the summit of the mountain sent forth a volume of flame, stones, and ashes, which spread devastation far and wide. The sky, to the extent of many leagues, was enveloped in the gloom of night ; the fine dust, it was asserted, was wafted even to Egypt and Syria; and at Rome it rendered the sun invisible for many days. Men and beasts, birds and fishes, perished alike. The adjoining towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum were overwhelmed by the earthtpiake which attended the irrup- tion, and their inhabitants destroyed. Among those who lost their lives on this occasion, was Pliny, the great naturalist. He commanded the fleet at Miscnum, and, his curiosity lead- ing him to proceed to Stabi;E to view this convulsion of nature more closely, he was suffocated by the pestilential air. Titus did all in his power to alleviate this great calamity. .But while, on account of it, he was absent in Campania, (80,) a fire broke out at Rome, which raged for three days and nights, and destroyed the Septa, the baths of Agrippa, the Pantheon, the rebuilt Capitol, and a number of the other public buildings. This was succeeded by a pestilence, probably the consequence of the eruption of Vesuvius, which swept away numbers of people. The emperor undertook to restore the city at his own expense, refusing all the presents that were offered him for that purpose. He built a splendid amphitheatre in the middle of the city, and the baths which bear his name. At the dedication of these works, he gave magnificent games to the people. In the September of the following year, (81,) the reign and life of this excellent prince came to their close. At the termi- nation of one of the public spectacles, he was observed to burst into tears in presence of the people. Some ill omens dis- turbed him, and he set out for the Sabine country. On the first stage, he was attacked by a fever; and, as he was pro- ceeding in his litter, it is said that he looked at the sky and lamented that life should be taken from him undeservedly, as there was but one act he ever did to be repented of* He died at the country-house in which his father had so lately expired. Domitian was suspected, though apparently * What that act was no one knew ; and none of the conjectures are very probable. 160 DOMITIAN. [a. D. 81. Without reason, of having caused his death. Titus was only in his forty-first year, and had reigned little more than two years; fortunate perhaps in this, for, as Dion observes, had he lived longer, his fame might not have been so pure. T. Flavins Sahinus Domitianus. A. u. 834—849. A. D. 81—96. Titus Flavins Sabinus Domitianus was the younger son of Vespasian. He was born in the year 51 ; his youth was not reputable ; and when, after the death of Vitellius, lie exercised the supreme power at Rome, he gave free course to his evil propensities. Among other acts, he took Domitia Calvina, the daughter of the celebrated Corbulo, from her husband, yElius Lamia, and made her his own wife. After the return of his father to Rome, he passed his time mostly in seclusion at his residence at the Alban mount, devoting himself to poetry, in which he made no mean progress. When his father died, he had some thouo;hts of ofTeriufj a double donative to the soldiers, and claiming the empire; and, as long as his brother lived, he was conspiring openly or secretly against him. Ere Titus had breathed his last, Domitian caused every one to abandon him, and, mounting his horse, rode to the praetorian camp, and caused himself to be saluted emperor by the soldiers. Like most bad emperors, Domitian commenced his reign with popular actions; and a portion of his good qualities adhered to him for some time. Such were his liberality (for no man was freer from avarice) and the strictness with which he looked after the administration of justice, both at Rome and in the provinces. His passion for building was extreme ; not content with restoring the Capitol, the Pantheon, and other edifices injured or destroyed by the late conflagration, he built or repaired several others; and on all, old and new alike, he inscribed his own name, without noticing the original founder. Domitian was of a moody, melancholy temper, and he loved to indulge in solitude. His chief occupation, when tiius alone, we are told, was to catch flies, and pierce them witli a sharp writing-style ; hence Vibius Crispus, being asked one day if there was any one within with Ca'sar, replied, " No, not so much as a fly." Among the better actions of the A. D. 83-85.] GERMAN WAR. 161 early years of this prince, may be noticed the following : He strictly forbade the abominable practice of making eunuchs, for which he deserves praise ; though it was said that his motive was not so much a love of justice as a desire to depreciate the memory of his brother, who had a partiality for these wretched beings. Domitian also at this time pun- ished three Vestals who had broken their vows of chastity ; but, instead of burying them alive, he allowed them to choose their mode of death. In the hope of acquiring military glory, he undertook (83) an expedition to Germany, under the pretence of chastising the Chattans. But he merely crossed the Rhine, pillaged the friendly tribes beyond it, and then, without having even seen the face of an enemy, returned to Rome, and celebrated the triumph which the senate had decreed him, dragging as captives slaves that he had purchased and disguised as Ger- mans. While, however, he was thus triumphing for imagi- nary conquests, real ones had been achieved in Britain by Cn. Julius Agricola, to whom Vespasian had committed the affairs of that island, (80.) He had conquered the country as far as the firths of Clyde and Forth, and (85) defeated the Caledonians in a great battle at the foot of the Grampians. Domitian, though inwardly grieved, affected great joy at the success of Agricola ; he caused triumphal honors, a statue, and so forth, to be decreed him by the senate, and gave out that he intended appointing him to the government of Syria ; but, when Agricola returned to Rome, he received him with coldness, and never employed him again.* The country on the left bank of the lower Danube, the modern Transylvania, Wallachia, and Moldavia, was ai cnis time inhabited by a portion of the Sarmatian or Slavonian race named the Dacians, and remarkable for their valor. The extension of the Roman frontier to the Danube, in the time of Augustus, had caused occasional collisions with this martial race ; t but no war of any magnitude occurred till the present reign. The prince of the Dacians at this time, named Decebalus, was one of those energetic char- acters often to be found among barbarous tribes, to whom nature has given all the elements of greatness, but fortune has assigned a narrow and inglorious stage for their exhibi- * See the Life of Agricola, by his son-in-law, Tacitus. t " Occidit Daci Cotisonis agmen." Hor. Carm. iii. 8. 18. M. Antonius asserted that Augustus had promised his daughter Julia in marriage to Cotison. Seut. Oct. 63. 14* u 162 DOMITIAN. [a. D. 86-88. tion. It was probably the desire of military glory and of plunder, rather than fear of the avarice of Domitian, the only cause assigned,* that made Decebalus at this time (80) set at nought the treaties subsisting with the Romans, and lead his martial hordes over the Danube. The troops that opposed them were routed and cut to pieces ; the garrisons and castles were taken, and apprehensions were entertained for the winter quarters of the legions.t The danger seemed so imminent, that the general wish was manifested for the conduct of the war being committed to Agricola; and the imperial freedmen, some from good, others from evil motives, urged their master to compliance. But his jealousy of that illustrious man was invincible ; and he resolved to superin- tend the war in person. Domitian proceeded to Illyria, where he was met by Da- cian deputies with proposals of peace, on condition of a capi- tation tax of two oboles a head being paid to Decebalus. The emperor forthwith ordered Cornelius Fuscus, the gov- ernor of Illyria, to lead his army over the Danube, and chas- tise the insolent barbarians. Fuscus passed the river by a bridge of boats ; he gained some advantages over the enemy, but his army was finally defeated and himself slain. | Domi- tian, who had returned to Rome, hastened back to the seat of war ; but, instead of heading his troops, he stopped in a town of Mojsia, where he gave himself up to his usual pleas- ures, leaving the conduct of the war to his generals, who, though they met with some reverses, were in general success- ful ; and Decebalus was reduced to the necessity of suing for peace. Domitian refused to grant it; but, shortly after, havincr sustained a defeat from the Marcomans, whom he wished to punish for not having assisted him against the Dacians, he sent to offer peace to Decebalus. The Dacian was not in a condition to refuse it, but he would seem to have dictated the terms; and in effect an annual tribute was henceforth paid to him by the Roman emperor. § Domi- tian, however, triumphed for the Dacians and Marcomans, though he paid tribute to the former, and had been defeated by the latter. || During the Dacian war, (88,) L. Antonius, who coni- * Jornandes De Reb. Goth. 13. t Tac. Affric. 41. t JuvonaljSat. iv. Ill, 112. § Dion, Ixvii. 7; Ixviii. C. II There is great confusion respcctintr the duration of the Uacian war. Eusebius makes it end in the year 90, and places the triumph of Domitian in the following year. See Tillemont, Hist, des Einpe- reurs. A. D. 88-94.] VICES OF DOMITIAN. 163 manded in Upper Germany, having been grossly insulted by the emperor, formed an alliance with the Alemans, and caused himself to be proclaimed emperor. But L. Maximus marched against him, and, the Alemans having been pre- vented from coming to his aid by the rising of the Rhine, he was defeated and slain. Maximus wisely and humanely burned all his papers; but that did not prevent the tyrant from putting many persons to death, as concerned in the revolt. A war against the Sarmatians, who had cut to pieces a Roman legion, is placed by the chronologists in the year 94. Domitian conducted it in person, after his usual manner ; but, instead of triumpliing, he contented himself with suspend- ing a laurel crown in the Capitol. This is the last foreign transaction of his reign. After the first three or four years of his reign, the evil qualities of Domitian displayed themsekes more and more every day. By nature a coward, his fears, increased by his belief in the follies of astrology, rendered him cruel, and the want brought on by his extravagance made him rapa- cious. Informers flourished anew, as in the days of Nero ; and the blind Catullus,* Messalinus, Melius Cams, and Be- bius Massa, and others of the like stamp, preyed continually on the lives and fortunes of all men of rank and worth. Among the victims of the incipient cruelty of Domitian were the following : Metius Pomposianus, on account of his horo- scope, and because he had in his chamber a map of the world, and carried about him speeches of kings and generals out of Livy, and called his slaves Mago and Hannibal; Sal- vius Coccianus, for celebrating the birthday of his uncle Otho ; Sallustius LucuUus, for having given his name to a new kind of lance ; the sophist Maternus, for a declamation against tyrants ; Julius Lamia, (whose wife he had taken from him,) for some jokes in the time of Titus. The tyranny of Domitian at length passed all bounds. Tacitus describes the senate-house invested by soldiery; consulars slaughtered ; women of the highest rank banished ; the isles filled with exiles, the racks dyed with their blood ; slaves and freedmen corrupted to give false evidence against their masters; nobility, wealth, honors, above all, virtue, the sure causes of ruin ; rewards lavished on informers and ac- cusers ; all the vices and all the virtues called into action. t At this time, Ilelvidius, the son of Helvidius Priscus, was • Juvenal, Sat. iv. 113, seq * Agric. 45. Hist. i. 2, 3. ^ \ V I 164 DOMITIAN. [a. d. 84-96. put to death for having made an interlude on the emperor's divorce, of which the characters were Paris and CEnone; and Herennius Senecio, for having written the life of Hel- vidius Prisons. A panegyric on Thrasea and Helvidius was also fatal to its author, Junius Rusticus, a Stoic ; and Her- mogenes of Tarsus, from some supposed allusions in his his- tory, was put to death, and the booksellers that sold it were crucified. After the condemnation of Rusticus, all the phi- losophers were banished from Italy. Like Nero, whom he resembled in some points, Domitian was capricious in his cruelty. When, at the shows which followed his triumph, a tempest of rain came on, he would not allow any one to quit the place and seek shelter. He himself also remained ; but he had several cloaks, and changed them as they became wet. Many of the spectators died in consequence of colds and fevers. To console them, he in- vited them to a public supper, which lasted all through the night. He gave the senate and knights also a curious supper at the same time. The room in which he received them was made perfectly black; the seats were black; by each stood a monumental pillar with the name of the guest on it, and a sepulchral lamp ; naked slaves, blackened to resemble spectres, came in and danced a horrid measure around them, and then each seated himself at the feet of a guest ; the funeral meats were then brought in black vessels. All sat quaking in silence ; Domitian alone spoke, and his discourse was of death. At length he dismissed them ; but at the porch, instead of their own attendants, they found strange ones, with chairs and sedans to convey them to their houses. When they were at home, and began to respire freely, word came to each that one was come from the emperor; terror returned, but it was agreeably dispelled by finding that the pillar, which was silver, the supper utensils, of valuable mate- rials, and the slave who had played the ghost, were arrived as presents from the palace. Domitian exhibited, about this time, a specimen of politi- cal economy by no means despicable, were not the evil which he proposed to amend already beyond remedy. Wine prov- ing very plentiful and corn very scarce in Italy, he issued an edict (92) forbidding any new vineyards to be planted in Italy, and ordering one half of those in the provinces to be cut down. This edict, it may readily be supposed, was but partially carried into effect. The year of Domitian's triumph was also distinguished by A. D. 84-96.] VICES OF BOMITIAN. 165 the death of Cornelia, the eldest of the Vestals, accused of breach of chastity. Slie was buried alive, in the ancient manner, and underwent her cruel fate with the greatest con- stancy and dignity. She does not appear to have had a fair trial, and many strongly doubted of her guilt.* The emperor, so rigorous in punishing breach of chastity in others, was, as usual, indulgent to himself on this head. His brother Titus had wished him to put away Domitia, and marry his daughter Julia: he refused; yet, when Julia was married to another, he seduced her; and when her father and husband were dead, he cohabited openly with her, and is said to have caused her death, by giving her drugs to pro- cure abortion.! As for Domitia, he divorced her on account of an intrigue with Paris the actor, whom he put to death ; but he took her back soon after, pretending a willingness to gratify the desire of the people. Domitian met with the usual fate of tyrants; he perished by a conspiracy. It is said | that he kept under his pillow a list of those whom he intended to put to death, and that one day, as he was sleeping, a favorite little boy, who was in the room, carried it away. Domitia, meeting the child, took it from him, and, to her surprise, found her own name in it, alonor with those of Norbanus and Petronius, the prefects of the prtetorians, Parthenius, the chamberlain, and some others. * She immediately informed those concerned, and they re- solved to anticipate the tyrant. Domitian had lately put to death his cousin Clemens, one of whose freedmen, named Stephanus, who acted as steward to his wife Domitilla, being accused of malversation in his office, engaged in the conspiracy, and, being a strong man, undertook the task of killing ihe tyrant. It was arranged that the attack should be made on him in his chamber ; and Parthenius removed the sword which was usually under his pillow. Stephanus, for some days previously, had his arm bandaged, as if hurt, in order to be able to conceal a dagger ; and on the ISth of September, (9G,) when Domitian, after sitting in judgment, retired to his chamber to repose, before going into the bath, Parthenius presented Stephanus to him as one who could inform him of a conspiracy. While he was readincp the paper handed to him, Stephanus struck him in * Plin. Ep. iv. 11. t Suet. Dom. 2'2. Juvenal, Sat. ii. 32. t Dion (l-xvii.) says that ho liad heard it. Suetonius does not seem to have known it. We sliall find the same told of Commodus. Tho circumstance is by no means improbable. 166 LITERATURE. [a. D. 96. the belly. He called out to a slave to reach him the sword that was under his pillow, but it was gone ; others of the conspirators then rushed in, and the tyrant was despatched with seven wounds. He was in the forty-fiiYh year of his age, and the fifteenth of his reign. The reigns of the Flavian family, and of their immediate successors, may be regarded as the last period of Roman literature. It exhibits the decline of taste, thouorh not of genius, as compared with the Augustan age. In its loftiest as in its meanest performances, we discern the influence of a corrupt and degenerate generation ; the noble and virtuous writer describes the ruling vice with horror, while the mer- cenary flatterer portrays it for the gratification of his patrons. Among the poets, the first place is due to P. Statins Papi- nius, who wrote a poem in twelve books on the mythic wars of Thebes, and commenced another on the life and actions of Achilles. We also possess five books of Silvae, or occa- sional poems by this writer, which are generally (not, how- ever, we should think, as poems) considered to be of more value than his Thebais. C. Valerius Flaccus also selected a mythologic subject. His Argonautics is imperfect ; but it exhibits poetic spirit and more originality than might have been expected. C. Silius Italicus, following the example of Ennius and Lucan in writing epic history, composed a poem, in eighteen books, on the second Punic war. But nature had refused him inspiration; and polished verse, close imitation of Virgil, and rhetorical expression, occupy the place of poetry in his tedious work. The field of satire, over which Horace had passed with such light-footed gayety, and which Persius had trodden in the dignity of virtue, was now occu- pied by D. Junius Juvenalis, a writer of an ardent rhetorical spirit, who lashes vice with terrific energy, and displays it in the most appalling colors, his pictures being perhaps too true to nature ; but his veneration for virtue is sincere, and in- dignation at beholding it oppressed and vice triumphant is his muse. M. Valerius Martialis, a Spaniard by birth, has left fourteen books of terse and pointed epigrams, in which, however, little of the poetic spirit is to be discerned. It was also at this time that C. Cornelius Tacitus wrote his Annals and Histories, which place him on a line with Thucydides for deep insight into human nature and its A. D. 96.] NERVA. 167 springs of action. C. Suetonius Tranquillus was a diligent collector of anecdotes ; his work contains no oricrinal thouffhts or sentiments. M. Fabius duintilianus, a Spaniard, a teacher of rhetoric, has left a valuable work on his art. The Natural History of C. Plinius Secundus is a vast repository of nearly all that was known on that subject at the time. The Letters of his nephew, the younger Pliny, exhibit a highly-cultivated mind and a most amiable disposition. CHAPTER HI.* NERVA. TRAJAN. HADRIAN. ANTONINUS. AURELIUS. A. u. 849—933. A. D. 96—180. NERVA. ADOPTION OF TRAJAN. HIS ORIGIN AND CHARAC- TER. DACIAN WARS. PARTHIAN WARS. DEATH OF TRAJAN. OBSERVATIONS. SUCCESSION OF HADRIAN. HIS CHARACTER. AFFAIRS AT ROME. HADRIAN IN GAUL AND BRITAIN IN ASIA AND GREECE IN EGYPT. AN- TINOUS. ADOPTIONS. DEATH OF HADRIAN. HIS CHAR- ACTER AS AN EMPEROR. REBELLION OP THE JEWS. REIGN OF ANTONINUS PIUS. M. AURELIUS. PARTHIAN WAR. GERMAN WARS. REVOLT OF CASSIUS. DEATH OF AURELIUS. HIS CHARACTER. M. Cocceius Nerva. A. u. 849—851. A. D. 96—98. The death of Domitian filled the senate with joy ; the peo- ple appeared indifferent ; the soldiers were anxious to avenge him. They were, however, without leaders, and they were finally induced by their prefects to acquiesce in the choice of the senate. The person on whom this choice fell was M. Cocceius Nerva, a senator of a consular family, and who had himself * Authorities : Dion Cassius, the Augustan History, and the Epi- tomators. { 168 NERVA. [a. d. 97. borne the principal offices in the state. He was now in the sixty-fourth year of his age; he was a man of tlie most amia- ble temper, yet not devoid of energy and activity, but mild and clement even to a fault. To reverse the acts of his predecessor was the first care of Nerva. The banished were recalled, and their properties restored to them ; accusations of treason were quashed ; severe laws were enacted against delators ; slaves and freedmen, who had accused their mas- ters, were put to death. Nerva reduced the taxes, and made so many other beneficent regulations, that men expected a golden age under his mild domination. It was not long, however, before a conspiracy was formed to <]eprive the empire of this excellent prince, (97.) The head of it was a nobleman named Calpurnius Crassus, who, by lavish promises, solicited the soldiers to revolt. Nerva imitated the conduct of Titus on a similar occasion. He put the swords of the gladiators into the hands of the con- spirators, as they sat with him at a public spectacle ; and he contented himself with banishing Crassus to Tarentum. The praetorians, who longed to avenge Domitian, soon, how- ever, found a leader in their commander, ^Elianus Casperius ; and they besieged the emperor in his palace, demanding the lives of those who had slain his predecessor. Nerva, it is said, showed outward marks of fear ; but he acted with spirit, and refused to give them up, stretching out his neck for the soldiers to strike off his head, if they wished. But all availed not ; he was forced to abandon them to their fate ; and Petro- nius and Parthenius were slain, the latter with circumstances of great barbarity. Casperius even forced tlie emperor to thank the soldiers, in presence of the people, for having put to death the worst of men. This insolence of the praetorians proved advantageous to the state. Nerva saw the necessity of a more vigorous hand to hold the reins of empire. More solicitous for the wel- fare of his country than the elevation of his family, he passed over his relations, and fixed on M. Ulpius Trajanus, the com- mander of the army of Lower Germany, to be his adopted son and successor. On the occasion of a victory being gained over the Alemans, in Pannonia, he ascended the Capitol, to deposit there the laurel which had been sent him according to usage, and he then, in presence of the people, de- clared his adoption of Trajan, to whom he shortly after gave the titles of Caesar and Germanicus, and then that of emperor, with the tribunitian power, thus making him his colleague. A. D. 99.] CHARACTER OF TRAJAN. 169 The good emperor did not long survive this disinterested act. He died in the beginning of the following year, (98,) reo-retted by both senate and people ; and his ashes were de- posited in the monument of Augustus. M. Ulpius Trajanus Crinitus. A. u. 851—870. A. D. 98—117. M. Ulpius Trajanus was born at a town named Italica, near Seville, in Spain. He early devoted himself to a mil- itary life, and served as a tribune under his father, as it would appear. He was afterwards pra;tor and consul ; after his consulate, he retired to his native country, whence he was summoned by Domitian, to take the command in Lower Ger- many. Trajan had all the qualities of mind and body that form the perfect soldier. He was rigid in discipline, but affable in manner ; hence he possessed both the love and the respect of his men, and the tidings of his adoption to the empire were received with joy by all the armies. He received at Cologne the account of the death of his adoptive father ; but, instead of proceeding to Rome, he remained till the following year, regulating the affairs of the German frontier, and enforcing discipline in the army. During this time, he summoned to his presence Casperius and the mutinous praetorians, and punished them for their insolence to the late emperor. At length, (99,) he set out for Rome, where he was re- ceived with unbounded joy. He made his entry on foot, and ascended the Capitol, and then proceeded to the palace. His wife, Plotina, who was with him, turned round as she was going up the steps, and said aloud to the people, " I enter here such as I wish to go out of it." She kept her word ; for her influence was exerted only for good as long as she lived. Trajan remained for nearly two years at Rome, occupied in the arts of peace. His only object seems to have been the promotion of the happiness of those over whom he ruled. The senate enjoyed the highest consideration ; the prince, like Vespasian and Titus, lived on terms of the most cordial intimacy with its members; and the best men of the times were ranked as his friends. Justice was administered with impartiality ; the vile brood of delators was finally crushed ; CONTIN. 15 V 170 TRAJAN. [a. D. 101-105. oppressive taxes were reduced or abolished ; the greatest care was taken to secure a regular supply of food to the people. But the military genius of the emperor could not long brook inactivity, and he seized an early occasion of engaging in war with the Dacians. He observed that the power of this people was on the increase ; he disdained to pay the tribute conceded by Domitian ; and Decebalus had, it is further said, entered into relations with the Parthians. Tra- jan, therefore, crossed the Danube (101) at the head of a large army ; the Dacians gave him battle, but were defeated with great slaughter ; the Romans also suffered so severely, that the emperor had to tear up his own garments to make bandages for the wounded. Decebalus sent his nobles in vain to solicit peace; the emperor and his generals pushed on their successes ; height after height was won ; the Dacian capital, named Zermizegethusa, was taken, and Decebalus was at length obliged to consent to receive peace on the terms usual in the days of the republic ; namely, the surren- der of arms, artillery, and deserters, the dismantling of for- tresses, the abandonment of conquests, and an offensive and defensive alliance with Rome. Trajan, having left garrisons in the capital and some other strong places, returned to Italy, and triumphed, taking the title of Dacicus. Decebalus, though he submitted for the present, was pre- paring for future war ; he collected arms, received deserters, and repaired his fortresses. He invited his neighbors to aid him, showing that if they suffered him to be destroyed, their own subjection would inevitably follow. He thus induced many to join him ; and lie made war on some of those who refused. War being therefore again declared against the Dacian prince, (104,) Trajan put himself at the head of his army, and fixed his head-cpiartcrs in M(Esia. Here he occu- pied himself in raising one of his most magnificent works, a bridge of stone over the Danube. It consisted of twenty- one arches, each one hundred and seventy feet in span, the piers being one hundred and fifty feet in height, and sixty in breadth. A castle was built at either end, to defend it;* and, when it was completed, Trajan passed over the river, (105.) No great action seems to have ensued; but the troops of Decebalus were routed in detail, and his fortresses * The site of this bridge, which was destroyed by Hadrian, is un- known. It is supposed to liave been between Visninac and Widin. A. D. 106, 107.] TRAJAN IN ARMENIA. 171 captured one after another. Seeing all hope gone, the brave but unfortunate prince put an end to himself. Dacia was then reduced to the form of a province, and numerous Roman colonies were established in it. On his return to Rome, (lOG,) where he found numerous embassies, even one from India, awaiting him, Trajan celebrated his second tri- umph ; after which he gave games that lasted one hundred and twenty-three days, in which 11,000 animals were slaughtered, and 10,000 gladiators fought. The warlike spirit of Trajan could not remain at rest; and he soon undertook an expedition to the East. The pretext was, that the king of Armenia had received his dia- dem from the Parthian monarch instead of the Roman em- peror; the real cause was Trajan's lust of military glory. The condition of the Parthian empire at this time was favorable to his views; it was vercrin^ fast to its decline, and was torn by intestine convulsions, the sure forerunners of national dissolution. The Armenian king at this time was named Exedares, probably a son or grandson of Tiridates. Chosroes, the Parthian king, however, deposed him, and gave the king- dom to Parthamasiris, his own nephew, when he found that Trajan was on his way to the East, and despatched an em- bassy, (which met the emperor at Athens,) bearing presents, and praying that he would send the diadem to the new prince. Trajan was not, however, to be diverted from his purpose; he merely replied that friendship was to be shown by deeds rather than by words, and continued his march for Syria. He reached Antioch in the first week of January, (107;) and, having made all the necessary preparations, he led his troops into Armenia. The various princes and chieftains of the country met him with presents; resistance was nowhere offered; and, at a place named Elegeia, Partha- masiris himself entered the Roman camp, and laid his diadem at the feet of the emperor. Perceiving that he was not de- sired to resume it, and being terrified by the shouts of the soldiers, who saluted Trajan Impcrator, he craved a private audience; but, finding that Trajan had no intention of ac- ceding to his request, he sprang out of the tent, and was quitting the camp in a rage, when Trajan had him recalled, and, from the tribunal, told him that Armenia belonged to the Romans, and should have a Roman governor, but that he was at liberty to go whither he pleased. His Armenian attendants were then detained as Roman subjects, and him- 172 TRAJAN. [a.d. 107-116. self and his Parthians were dismissed under charge of an escort of horse. Partliamasiris fell some time after in an action, and Armenia was reduced to a Roman province. The kincTs of the nations of the Caucasus, and around the Euxine Sea, acknowledged the supremacy of Rome. Trajan then led his army into Mesopotamia, all whose princes sub- mitted to his authority. lie took the city of J>Jisibis, and Chosroiis was obliged to conclude a treaty with him, and even, it is said, to implore his aid against his rebellious subjects. On his return to Rome, Trajan assumed the title of Parthicus. The history of the reign of this celebrated emperor has come down to us in so very imperfect a form, that it is utterly impossible to ascertain how long he remained in the East, or when he came back to Italy. All we know is, that he did return to Rome, and staid there till the year 114, when we find him again in Syria, preparing for a war with the Parthians, the cause of which is not assigned. In the spring of this year, he entered Mesopotamia. The Parthians prepared to defend the passage of the Tigris ; but Trajan had caused boats to be framed in the forests about Nisibis, and conveyed on wagons with the army. A bridge of boats was speedily constructed, and the enemy retired, after having vainly attempted to impede the passage of the Romans. The whole of Adiabene submitted; and Trajan, as it would appear, returned to the Euphrates, for we are told that he visited Babylon, and inspected the sources of the bitumen used for constructing its walls. He also, it is added, set about clearing the Nahar-malca, (Kings' -river,) or canal, which formerly connected the Euphrates and Tigris, in order to convey boats along it for the passage of tliis last river. But he gave up the attempt, and, carrying the boats, as before, on wagons, he set his army over the Tigris, and captured Ctesiphon, the Parthian capital.* He formed the conquered country into the provinces of Assyria and Meso- potamia, and then, (HG,) embarking on the Tigris, sailed down it, and entered the Persian Gulf. Seeing there, we are told, a vessel under sail for India, he declared that, if he was a young man, he would certainly penetrate to that re- mote country, and advance further than even the great Macedonian conqueror, whom he extolled and eulogized. * Ctesiphon lav on the li'ft bank of tlio Tigris, twenty miles sonth of the modern Baghdad. The city of Seleucia stood on tlie opposite Bide of the river, and was a suburb to it. A. D. 117.] DEATH OF TRAJAN. 173 It is probable that Trajan returned up the Euphrates ; for he was apparently at Babylon* when he learned that all the conquered countries had revolted, and driven away or slain the Roman garrisons. He sent his generals Maximus and Lusius Quietus to reduce them. The former was defeated and slain, but the latter recovered Nisibis, and took and burned Edessa : the city of Seleucia met with a similar fate from those sent against it. In order to keep the Parthians at rest, Trajan returned to Ctesiphon, and, assembling the inhabitants and his soldiers in the adjoining plain, he as- cended a lofty tribunal, and, having expatiated on his own» exploits, he placed the diadem on the head of Parthamas- pates, one of the rival candidates for the throne, declaring him king of the Parthians. A portion of the Arabs of Mesopotamia having submitted to him, Trajan had formed a province of Arabia. But the Arabs loved independence too much to remain long in obe- dience, and the emperor found it necessary (117) to besiege in person a strong town belonging to them named Atra, which lay not far from the Tigris. The desert nature of the surrounding country, the extreme heat, the swarms of mosquitoes and other insects, together with tempests of thunder, hail, and rain, which occurred, soon obliged him to raise the siege and retire ; and, shortly after, he fell sick, and, leaving the command in the East with his relative Hadrian, he set out on his return to Italy.^ But, at Selinus in Cilicia, he had a severe attack of dysentery, which carried him off in a few days, in the sixty-third year of his age, after a reign of twenty years all to about six months. His ashes were conveyed to Rome, and placed beneath the column raib-ed in his Forum to commemorate his Dacian wars, and which still remains in that city^ Imperfect as are the narratives which we possess of the reign of this prince, the testimony so unanimously borne to his virtues places them beyond dispute. Nearly three cen- turies after his death, the acclamation of the senate to their emperors continued to be, " May you be more fortunate than Augustus, and better than Trajan !" t In the Pane- * Ma&aiv Si Tavra 6 TgaVavoj iv nXo'im (xal ylto ixiiae j^XSt y.ara T« Ti,»' (/)i'i(?;v i]s ot'ftv uj'ov il'Sty, o ri iii, jfwuaia y.al fiv^or: y.ai iqtiina, xal Silt Tor L-fltiaycinor at xai f >■;,')' iirtv iy rai oixi'uoni ir lu iTf{tXtl'l)]xti.) Dion, Ixviii. 30. For nXolco, we read with Tillemont iiaiivX^yi, as the only word which gives sense to tlie passage. It was certainly there that Alexander died. * " Felicior Augusta melior Trajano." Eutrop. viii. 5. 15* 174 HADRIAN. [a. D. ] 17. gyric of Pliny, the emperor is without a fault; but we learn from the less courtly epitomators that Trajan was so devoted to wine and the pleasures of the table, that he found it necessary to give directions that any orders which he issued after his prolonged meals should not be regarded ; and, while the panegyrist lauds his chastity, truth accuses him of be- ing immoderately addicted to the vice which degraded the ancient world. In his lust of conquest, Trajan evinced lit- tle political wisdom. The prudent Augustus advised hia successors to be content with the limits of the empire which he had left; and the Danube and Euphrates formed natural boundaries. This sage advice was first neglected by the stupid Claudius ; but the conquest of Britain was not difii- cult, and an island once won is easily retained ; but the ac- quisitions of Trajan could only be held by a large military force; and the best proof of his want of judgment in making them, is the fact that his Eastern conquests were abandoned at once by Hadrian, and Dacia, in about a century and a half after his death, by one of his ablest successors. P. Julius Hadrianus. A.U. 870— 891. A.D.I 17— 138. The successor of Trajan was his kinsman, P. iElius Ha- drianus, who was of a family of Italica, but born at Rome. Hadrian being left an orphan at the age of ten years, his guardians were Trajan, and a knight named Tatianus. He applied himself diligently to study, and became equally skilled in the Greek and Latin languages. He entered the army as a tribune in the time of Domitian. When Trajan attained the empire, Hadrian, through the influence of his secretary Sura, rose in favor with him ; the empress Plotina also patronized him, and prevailed on Trajan to give him in marriage his niece Sabina. He gradually discharged the principal civil and military offices of the state, and it was generally understood that the emperor intended to adopt him. It is not by any means certain that the adoption actually took place. Dion assures us, on what may be regarded as good authority, that the whole affair was managed by Plotina and Tatianus, who prepared the letters of adoption, conceal- ing the death of Trajan some days for the purpose, and for- A.D. 118-119.] HADRIAN. 175 warded them to Hadrian, vvho had remained at Antioch. At all events, the succession was undisputed. Hadrian, liaving caused himself to be proclaimed emperor, wrote to the senate, excusing it, under the plea of its being unsafe to leave the empire without a head, praying them to confirm him in it, and not to confer any honors on him, unless he should himself request them, and making lavish promises of good government. He made Tatianus and Similis (the lat- ter a man of the noblest and most virtuous character) pre- fects of the praetorians. He wisely resolved to make the Euphrates, as before, the eastern boundary of the empire, and to abandon the useless con(|uests of Trajan ; and he therefore withdrew all the Roman garrisons from beyond that river. These affairs detained him for some time in the East, and he did not arrive in Rome till the following year, (US.) Hadrian's character was a strange mixture of sood and ill qualities, but vanity was its predominant feature. His abili- ties were much above mediocrity; but, not content with the knowledge adapted to his rank and situation, he would fain be a proficient in all arts and sciences. He studied medi- cine and mathematics ; he painted, engraved, sang, and played on musical instruments. He was a poet and a critic, and he showed his caprice or his bad taste, by preferring Antimachus (the author of a Thebais) to Homer, and En- nius to Virgil. At the same time, he claimed the highest proficiency in civil and military qualities, and, as was nat- ural in a person of this character, he was envious and jeal- ous of all those who excelled in what he made pretensions to, and he even put many of them to death. Hadrian remained for about two years in Italy, during which time, however, he made one expedition to the banks of the Danube, against the Sarmatians. On this occasion, he broke down the arches of Trajan's bridge, under the pre- text that it only served to facilitate the irruptions of the bar- barians. At Rome, he distinguished himself by his atten- tion to the administration of justice, (the brightest spot in hia character,) and by the liberality with which he remitted all the debts due to the fisc for the last sixteen years, burning publicly all the accounts and obligations. While Hadrian was away from Rome, (119,) various per- sons of rank and wealth were put to death on sundry pre- texts. Of these, the most distinguished were the four con- sulars, Cornelius Palraa, Celsus, Domitius Nigrinus, and 176 HADRIAN. [a. D. 120-121. Lusius Quietus, all favorites of the late emperor. The charge against them was the having conspired to murder Hadrian when sacrificing, or, as others said, hunting, and to give the empire to Nigrinus, whom he had designed for his successor ; but their real guilt appears to have been their wealth and influence. They were all put to death in the different places where they were found, by order of the sen- ate, against the will of Hadrian, as he pretended. He re- turned to Rome on occasion of this aff'air, when, to silence the murmurs of the people, he gave them a double congiary ; and he swore to the senate that he would never punish a senator, unless when condemned by themselves. At this period also there was a change made in the pre fecture of the praetorians. The upright Similis, who had accepted the charge against his inclination, asked and ob- tained permission to resign;* and Tatianus, whose power was become too great to be endured by the jealous emperor, was induced by him to ask for a successor. Hadrian, who had cast on him the odium of the late executions, had at first thoughts of putting him to death ; but he contented himself with making him quit his important post, and accept the rank of a senator. The new prefects were Marcius Turbo, a man of most excellent character, and an able officer, and Septitius Clarus. In the year 120, as it would appear, Hadrian commenced visiting the various provinces of the empire — a practice in wiiich he passed nearly the whole of his reign. Restlessness and curiosity seem to have been his principal motives ; but his presence proved of essential benefit to the provinces. He saw with his own eyes their real condition ; he looked into the conduct of their governors, and punished those who were guilty of fraud or oppression ; he adorned their towns with public buildings, and he bestowed money liberally where any calamities had occurred. Hadrian first visited Gaul; he thence proceeded to the Germanics, where he carefully inspected the troops, made sundry judicious regulations respecting the service, and re- stored the discipline, which had fallen into neglect. He thence (121) passed over to Britain, inspected the troops * He retired to the country, where he spent the remaining seven years of his life. On his tomb he caused to be inscribed, " Here lies Similis, who existed {(iiovg) so many years, and lived (t»|oas) seven.' Dion, Ixix. 19. i A.D. 122-132.] HADRIAN. 177 there, reformed abuses, and, to secure the conquered and civili/cd portion of the island from the incursions of tiie bar- barous Caledonians, he erected a strong wall, eighty miles in length, running from the mouth of tiie Tyne to the Solvvay Firtli. He then returned to Gaul, and he spent his winter at Tarragona, in Spain. Some troubles in Africa drew him over to that country in the following year, (122.) It is not known where he spent the winter, but we find iiim the next year (123) in Asia, wiicre a war with the Parthians had been on the point of breaking out. Having averted this danger, he spent a year rambling through Syria and Asia Minor, and then (124) visited the isles of the JEgxan, and finally came to Athens, where he passed the winter. He was initiated in the Eleusinian mysteries, and he conferred many favors on the people of Athens. From Greece, he passed over to Sicily, (125,) in order to ascend Mount ^tna, and witness from its sununit the rising of the sun. He then returned to Rome, where he appears to have remained till the year 129, when he again visited Africa, and conferred many benefits on the provincials. The following year, (130,) he set out for Asia, and, while there, he was waited on by most of the princes from about the Euxine and Caucasus. He sent back to Chosroes his daughter, who had been made a captive by Trajan, at the taking of Ctesiphon. He visited Syria, Judaea, and Arabia, every where making regulations and punishing evil governors, and at length (132) arrived at Alexandria in Egypt, where he remained for more than a year. On his way thither, he had visited and repaired the tomb of Pompeius the Great, remarking, in an extemporary Greek verse, how strange it was, that he who had so many temples should scarcely have a tomb. The death of the celebrated Antinoijs occurred while Ha- drian was in Egypt. This was a beautiful youth, a native of Bithynia, beloved, after the unnatural but prevalent fash- ion of the age, by the emperor. According to Hadrian's own account, he fell into the Nile and was drowned; others said that, like the Alrestis of Grecian fable, he devoted him- self, according to the superstition of the age, to prolong the days of the emperor; while others affirm that Hadrian, who was curious about magic arts, sacrificed him in order to pry into futurity by the inspection of his entrails. The extreme grief of the emperor at his loss gives probability to the first account, but is not inconsistent with the second. He built 178 HADRIAN. [a. d. 134-138. a town, named after him, where he died; he set up statues of him all over the empire ; the Greeks, at his desire, de- clared him to be a god, and temples were raised and oracles ascribed to him ; in fine, a new star, observed at this time, was pronounced to be the soul of Antinolis. Hadrian at length (134) quitted Egypt, and, returning through Syria and Asia, canie and passed another winter at Athens. He was now admitted to the Greater Mysteries ; and he was, in return, lavish of benefits to the Athenians, and he adorned their city with many stately edifices. In the spring, (135,) he returned to Rome, and, his health being now in a declining state, and having no offspring, he resolved to adopt a successor. His choice, after long consideration, fixed on L. Ceionius Commodus Verus, a man of noble birth and of literary taste, but sunk in indolence and volup- tuousness, and delicate in health. After the adoption of Verus, Hadrian retired from the city, and fi.xed his abode at Tibur, where he devoted himself chiefly to the cultivation of the fine arts. His disorder still continuing, he became peevish and cruel; and he put to death, or forced to die, sev- eral men of rank, amonw whom was his own brother-in-law Servianus, a man of ninety years of age. Verus, who had been sent to take the command in Panno- nia, returned to Rome in the end of the year 137. He had prepared an address to make to the emperor on new year's day, but, having taken an opiate to settle his nerves, the dose proved too powerful, and he fell asleep, never to wake. Ha- drian then fixed on a senator named T. Aurelius Antoninus, a man of most excellent character, as his successor, and he adopted him, making Antoninus, who was childless, adopt his wife's nephew, M. Annius Verus, and L. J^^lius Verus, the son of the late Commodus Verus. His disease, which appears to have been dropsy, growing worse and worse every day, Hadrian felt life to be a burden, of which he was anxious to be relieved. He implored in vain those about him to give him a sword or poison, that he misht terminate his sufferinfrs; and Antoninus watched over him assiduously. The irritation of his mind, it is said, made him become daily more cruel. He ordered several senators to be put to death ; but Antoninus saved them by pretending that the orders had been executed. At length he retired to BaifE, and neglected all regimen, using the common saying that " many doctors killed a king." He died on the lOlh A. D. 138.] DEATH OF HADRIAN. 179 of July, 138,* in the sixty-third year of his age, and after a reign of twenty-one years, wanting a month. The senate, on account of his late cruelties, proposed at first to abrogate all his acts, and refused him the usual honors ; but they yielded to the arguments and tears of Antoninus, and Ha- drian was deified, and his ashes consigned to the splen- did mausoleum which he had raised on the banks of the Tiber.t The merits of Hadrian as a monarch, however, far out- numbered his defects. He maintained peace and plenty in the interior of the state, and he kept the army in a condition of the greatest efficiency. Justice was carefully adminis- tered, and he was the author of many beneficent laws and regulations. Among these may be observed those in favor of the slaves. Hitherto the law had been, that, if a master was assassinated in his house, all the slaves in it should be put to death. Hadrian directed that none should even be put to the torture, except those who were within hearing at the time. He also took from masters the power of life and death over their slaves, and ordered that no slave should be put to death without the sentence of a magistrate. He further abolished the private workhouses all through It- aly.t It was during the reign of this prince that Heaven poured out its last vial of vengeance on the obstinate and fanatic nation of the Jews. Toward the end of the reign of Trajan, (115,) this people had risen in rebellion in Egypt and Gy- rene, and committed great massacres and other atrocities ; and the following year they rose in a similar manner in the isle of Cyprus and in Mesopotamia. They were, however, reduced by Marcius Turbo and Lusius Quietus ; and they remained at rest till the year 134, when, on the occasion of Hadrian's placing a Roman colony at Jerusalem, which he named from himself .^lia Capitolina, and building a temple to Jupiter on the site of that of Jehovah, their fanatic spirit * A little before his death, he made the following pretty lines, ad- dressed to his soul. (The measure is dimeter iambic acatalectic.) Animula vagula, blandula, Hospes, comcsque corporis, QufE nunc abibis in loca Pallidula, rigida, nudula Ncc, ut soles, dabis joca? t The Moles Hadriani, the present castle of St. Angelo. t See above, p. 32. The evil which Augustus tried to remedy still continued. 180 ANTONINUS PIUS. [a. D. 138-161. took fire, and they flew to arms under a leader named Bar- cokebas, {Son of the Star,) who gave himself out for the Messiah. Hadrian sent the ablest of his generals, Julius Severus, who commanded in Britain, to conduct the war, which lasted about two years. The number of the Jews slain in battle is said to have been 580,000, beside an infinite number who perished by famine and disease ; and the loss on the part of the Romans was not inconsiderable. The pris- oners were sold for slaves, and the Jews were forbidden henceforth, under pain of death, to come even within sight of Jerusalem. T. Aurelius Antoninus Pius. A. u. 891—914. A. D. 138—161. Titus Aurelius Antoninus was of a family originally of Nismes (Nemausia) in Gaul, but he was born near Lanu- vium in Latium. He bore the consulate and other offices of state, and he was so generally beloved, that the legacies which, in the usual Roman manner, he received from his friends, made him extremely rich. Though he took a share in public affairs, and had long been of Hadrian's council, his delight was in a country life, and his favorite abode was his villa of Lorii, about twelve miles from Rome, on the Au- relian road, the place where he had passed his boyhood. Antoninus was in the fifty-first year of his age when he was adopted by Hadrian. The senate, on his accession, de- creed him all the usual titles and honors, adding to them that which gave him most pleasure, the title of Pius or ' Du- tiful,' on account of his anxiety to guard from reproach the memory of his adoptive father. For a space of twenty-three years, the Roman world was ruled by this excellent prince, in whom men recognized all the virtues that imagination had ascribed to the mythic Numa. The aspirations of Plato for the happiness of man- kind in the union of the monarch and the philosopher, at length received their accomplishment ; for Antoninus, though not in speculation, was in practice a philosopher of the best and most rational school. All the virtues that adorn public or private life were united in him. As a ruler, he was just, but clement, generous, and affable ; as a private man, he was kind, social, liberal, and good-tempered. He lived with his A. D. 161. J M. AURELIUS. 181 friends on a footing of equality; he encouraged philosophy and rhetoric in all parts of the eini)ire, by giving honors and salaries to their professors ; he was attentive in the discharge , of all the ceremonies and duties belonging to the religion of J the state, but he would not suffer those who differed from it \ to be persecuted. The public events of this tranquil reign were few and unimportant, liad men, however, are always to be found, and we need not therefore be surprised to hear . that conspiracies were formed even against Antoninus ; but "^s^ the authors of them were punished by the senate, or died by their own hands. The only sounds of war were on the dis- tant frontiers, where the Moors and the German and Sarma- tian tribes were checked by the imperial generals. In Brit- ain, Antoninus caused a wall to be run from the Firth of Clyde to that of Forth, farther north than that of Hadrian. Some tumults in Greece and Juda:!a were suppressed. The princes of the East, and those round the Euxine, obeyed the mandates of the Roman emperor, or submitted their differ- ences to his decision. Antoninus had attained the seventy-fifth year of his age, and the twenty-third of his reign, when, at his palace of Lorii, (161,) after supping rather heartily on some Alpine cheese, he was seized with a vomiting in the night, which was succeeded next day by a fever. On the third day, he commended the empire and his daughter to his adopted son, M. Aurelius, and caused the golden image of Fortune, which was usually kept in the imperial chamber, to be transferred to that prince's apartments. To the tribune of the guards, when he came for the word, he gave Equanhnity ; and then, turning round as if to sleep, quietly breathed his last. He was buried in the tomb of Hadrian, and divine honors were decreed to him by the senate. M. ^lius Aurelius Antoninus. A. V. 914—933. A. D. 161—180. The first name of the adopted son, son-in-law, and suc- cessor, of Antoninus had been Catilius Severus, that of his maternal grandfather; but, on the death of his father, he was adopted by his paternal grandfather, and called after him, AnniusVerus: when adopted by Antoninus, he took the name of M. iElius Aurelius Varus; and when he became CONTIN. 16 182 M. AURELIUS. [a. d. 161-162. emperor, he dropped the Verus, and took in its place An- toninus. The character of this prince was grave, serious, and vir- tuous, even from his childhood ; and Hadrian, who had a great affection for him, used, instead of Verus, to call him Verissimus. At the age of twelve, he assumed the philoso- pher's habit, and began to practise the austerity of the philo- sophic life. He had the best instructors of every kind ; he became well skilled in all active and martial exercises, and acquired a knowledge of painting ; but the study of the Stoic philosophy, to which he was devoted, chiefly occupied his attention. He was in his eighteenth year when he was adopted by Antoninus. This prince gave him in marriage his daughter Faustina, and made him in effect his colleague in the empire. Such was the filial duty of Marcus, that, from the day of his adoption to that of the death of Pius, he lay but two nights out of the palace, and those at different times. On the death of Pius, the senate offered the empire to M. Aurelius alone; but, mindful of the wishes of Hadrian, he associated with him in his dignity his adoptive brother, L. Commodus, to whom he gave his own name of Verus, and betrothed to him his daughter Lucilla. The Roman world had thus for the first time two emperors ; but in effect there was only one, for Verus, who was of an open, good-natured temper, and a lover of pleasure rather than of study and business, deferred in all thincrs to his wiser brother, and acted only as his lieutenant. The new emperors had soon to prepare for the defence of their dominions. The barbarians of Caledonia and of north- ern Germany renewed tlieir assaults on the adjoining prov- inces, and Vologeses, the Parthian king, entered Armenia and cut to pieces a Roman army, led by the governor of Cap- padocia to its defence. The Parthian monarch then poured a large army into Syria, and defeated the governor of that province. This war appeared of such importance, that it was deemed expedient that one of the emperors should con- duct it in person. Aurelius, wishing to remove Verus from the seductions of Rome, and give him an opportunity of ac- quiring military fame, committed to him the Parthian war ; and that prince accordingly set out for the East, (16"2.) But, instead of putting himself at the head of his troops, the vo- luptuous emperor, under the pretext of attending to the com- missariat of the army, remained at Antioch, visiting Daphne i & A. D. 166.] PARTHIAN WAR. 183 in the summer and Laodicea in the winter, and thinking only of pleasure. The war was meantime conducted by his generals, who, especially Avidius Cassius, proved themselves to be able men. It lasted four years ; success was generally on the side of the Romans, and Cassius crossed the Tigris, took. Ctesiphon, and destroyed the royal palace. The war appears to have been concluded by a treaty, by which the Parthian monarch resigned all claim to the country west of the Tigris. The two emperors then celebrated a joint tri- umph, (1(36,) and assumed the title of Parthic. While Verus was absent in the East, the government of Aurelius at Rome had emulated that of Pius, and been in all things directed to the promotion of the happiness of the peo- ple. But in the train of Verus came a pestilence, which ex- ceeded in virulence any that had occurred for many years, spread to all parts of the empire, and curried off an immense number of people. A famine at Rome accompanied it ; and, to add to the calamities of the empire, a war with the Mar- comans broke out, which was to occupy Aurelius all the rest of his reign. We always find the German race acting in confederations, and this is perhaps one of the principal reasons why the Romans never could make any permanent impression on them. The confederation was usually named from the prin- cipal people engaged in it, and of the tribes on the left bank of the Danube, the Marcomans seem now to have been the most powerful. The removal of the legions, on account of the Parthian war, held out to them an opportunity of rav- aging the Roman province. It is also said that the pressure of some of the tribes farther north, who had abandoned or been driven from their own lands, and came seeking new ones, urged them to war. A union was therefore formed of all the German and Sarmatian nations conticruous to the Danube, for the invasion of the Roman provinces; but, while the Parthian war lasted, the Romans averted it by negotia- tion. When, however, the barbarians saw the empire deso- lated by the plague, they would no longer be restrained, and they passed the river in all parts, and poured over and rav- aged the provinces, taking cities and towns, and dragging thousands into captivity.* The intelligence caused great consternation at Rome, and Aurelius assured the senate that * According to Pausanias (x.) they advanced as far as Elatea in Greece. 184 M. AURELIUS. [a. d. 167-169. the danger was of such magnitude, as to require the presence of both the emperors ; not that he set any value on the mili- tary talents of Verus, but he did not consider it safe to leave him behind at Rome. The emperors tlierefore assumed the military habit, and advanced to Aquileia, (167.) They found that the tidings of their approach had caused the barbarians to repass the Danube, and deputies soon appeared suing for peace. Verus, who longed to return to the delights of Rome, was for accepting their excuses ; but Marcus, who judged that they only feigned a desire of peace through fear of his large army, resolved to advance farther, and let them see his power. He therefore passed the Alps, and advanced into the northern provinces, and, having made all the requisite dispo- sitions for the security of Illyricura and Italy, he set out on his return to Rome, permitting Verus to precede his arrival. The war, however, was speedily renewed, and, toward the close of the year 1G9, the emperors proceeded again to Aqui- leia, in order to take the field in the spring. But the plague was so violent in that town, that they could not venture to remain there, and, though it was mid-winter, they left it in order to return to Rome. On their way, as they were riding in the same carriage, near to Altino, Verus was struck with a fit of apoplexy; and, after remaining speechless for three days, he expired. His body was conveyed to Rome, and deposited in the tomb of Hadrian, and he was deified in the usual manner. There were not wanting those who were malignant enough to charge Marcus with the guilt of having caused the death of Verus, by poison, or by excessive blood-letting ; but his character alone suffices for the refutation of such calumnies. The death of Verus was, however, a great relief to him, for, excepting cruelty, this prince had all the vices of Caius and Nero, being devoted to gaming, chariot-racing, gladiators, buffoons, and every species of luxury and dissipation; and Marcus, though aware of and bitterly lamenting his defects, thought it his duty to conceal or excuse the failings of a brother. Marcus now, unimpeded by his colleague, devoted his whole energies to the improvement and defence of the em- pire. As the Marcomans had defeated and slain the prae- torian prefect Vindex, and were growing every day more formidable, and the legions had been dreadfully thinned by the plague, he took all kinds of men into pay. He enrolled A.D. 170-174.] MARCOMANIC WAR. 185 slaves, as had been done in the Punic war,* gladiators, the bandits of Dalmatia, and Dardania, and the Diocmitaj, or those employed in pursuit of them. lie also commenced the per- nicious practice of taking bodies of the Germans into Roman pay. In order to raise funds for the war without distressing the provincials, he caused an auction to be held, for the space of two months, in Trajan's Forum, at which all the splendid furniture, plate, and jewels belonging to the palace, even his own and his wife's silken and golden garments, were sold. Having thus obtained an abundant supply of money, he set out for the seat of war, (170.) The war lasted several years, during which the emperor did not return to Italy. His residence was, for three years, at Carnnntum, in Pannonia, on the Danube. He cleared that province of the barbarians, and he gave the Marcomans a notable defeat, as they were effecting the passage of the river. In the year 174, he carried the war beyond the Dan- ube, into the country of the Quadans. It was the middle of summer, the heat was excessive, and the enemy contrived to enclose the Roman army in a situation totally destitute of water, and, securing all the outlets, they awaited the sure effects of heat and thirst. The sufferings of the Romans were for some time extreme ; but at length the clouds were seen to collect, and soon the rain began to descend in tor- rents. The Quadans, seeing their hopes thus frustrated, fell on the Romans while engaged in quenching their thirst, and would, it is said, have defeated them, had not a tempest of hail and lightning come on, aided by which the Romans gained a victory. This event, which was, no doubt, a natural one, was held to be miraculous, and both pagans and Christians claimed the honor of it. The former ascribed it to an Egyptian ma- gician named Arnesiphis, who was with Aurelius, and by his arts caused the acreal Hermes and other demons to send the rain. The latter affirmed that it was sent in answer to the prayers of one of the legions, named the Melitenensian, or the "Thundering, and which was composed of Christians; and they add that the emperor, in his letter to the senate, acknowledged this to be the fact, and caused the persecution of the Christians to cease.t * The Volones, (Hist, of Rome, 219 ;) they were now called Volun- tarii, and the gladiators, Obsequentes. t Euseb. Hist. Ec. v. 5 ; Tert. Ap. 5 ; Xiphil. Ixxi. 9. Apollinaris (ap. Euseb.) says that the legion received the title of Thundering IG* X 186 M. AURELIUS. [a. D. 175. The confederates had suffered so much by the war, that they now were anxious for peace ; and most of them sent deputies to the emperor. The Quadans, the Marcomans, and the Sarmatian Jazygans, obtained peace on the terms of giving up all the deserters and prisoners, and of the two former not dwelling within less than five miles of the Dan- ube ; the Jazygans of double that distance. Other smaller nations were taken into alliance with the Romans, and lands were given them in the adjacent provinces, and even in Italy. This accommodation with the barbarians was hastened by the intelligence of a revolt in Syria. Avidius Cassius, who had, in effect, conducted the Parthian war, and had after- wards commanded on the Danube, had received from Mar- cus the government of that province, in order that he might restore the discipline of the army. Cassius, who was a man of the greatest rigor, and was even barbarous in his punish- ments, had still the art of attaching the soldiery ; and the Syrian army was soon in a most effective state of discipline, and devoted to its leader : the subjects and the neighboring princes were also inclined to Cassius, and, feeling, or affect- ing to feel, a contempt for the mild philosophy and the extreme lenity and clemency of Marcus, he at length (175) resolved to declare himself emperor. The whole of Asia south of Mount Taurus, and Egypt, submitted, and the troops of Bithynia were on the point of declaring for him. The emperor was informed of the revolt by Marcius Ve- rus, the governor of Cappadocia. He concealed the matter at first; but, finding that it had come to the ears of the soldiers, he called them together, and addressed them in a speech worthy of himself. He then wrote to the same effect to the senate, and that body declared Cassius a pub- lic enemy. Marcus was preparing to march into the East to contend for his empire, when the head of his rival was brought to him ; for Cassius, as he was one day walking or riding, was fallen on and slain by two of his own officers, after a dream of empire of three months. The army returned to its obedience, and put to death the eldest son of Cassius and his prcetorian prefect, and no more blood was shed. Cassius's papers were burnt, either by the emperor or by Verus ; his family was treated with favor ; the cities and towns which had declared for him were forgiven. {Fulminca) on this occasion ; but Tillemont observes that an inscrip- tion proves it to have belonged to the twelfth legion in the time of Trajan. A. D. 176-178.] M. AURELIUS. 187 In order to regulate the affairs of the East, Marcus pro- ceeded thither in person. He visited Syria and Egypt, and stopping, on his return, at Athens, (176,) he was there in- itiated in the mysteries. On the 23d of December, he en- tered Rome in triumph, with his son Commodus. The triumph was for the victories over the Germans. While Marcus was in Asia, the empress Faustina, who accompanied him, died suddenly in a little town at the foot of Mount Taurus. Her husband lamented her, even with tears; and, at his request, the senate deified her, and erected an altar to her, at which all young maidens, when they mar- ried, were to sacrifice with their bridegrooms. Yet, if his- tory may be credited, Faustina was so abandoned to lust, that she used to select the most vigorous rowers from the fleet, and gladiators from the arena, to share her embraces; and the general opinion was, that a gladiator, and not Mar- cus, was the father of Commodus. Her infamy, it is said, was not unknown to her husband, who, when urged to di- vorce her if he would not put her to death, replied, " If I put away my wife, I must restore her dower," that is, the empire ; a reply so unworthy of Marcus, that we cannot regard it as true.* The war had been rekindled on the banks of the Danube; the Marcomans, Quadans, and their allies, were again in arms, and the presence of the emperor was required. He left Rome in the autumn of 178, taking with him his son. He is said to have gained a considerable victory the follow- ing year, and the subjugation of the barbarians was regarded as certain; but, in the spring of 180, he was attacked by a contagious malady, which carried him off on the seventh day, after a reign of nineteen years, and when he had nearly attained the fifty-ninth year of his age. The emperor M. Aurelius has been compared to the Eng- lish king Alfred. Like him, he united the active and con- templative life, led armies and cultivated literature. But Alfred had far greater difficulties to contend with, and his studies were more directed to objects suitable to a sovereign. The British monarch, too, (favored in this, perhaps, by na- ture or fortune,) was more happy in his fiimily than the Roman; for, while Alfred left children worthy to occupy * It is more probable that he did not know her infamy ; for in the first book of his Meditations, written only a short time before she died, he praises her obedience, affection, and simplicity of manners. 188 REFLECTIONS. his place, and was blessed in all his domestic relations, the vices of his wife, his son, and his adoptive brother, cast a shade over the virtues of Aurelius. His blindness to these vices, if he really was not aware of them, derogates from his judgment and wisdom; while, if we concede him penetration of character, we must condemn the weakness which could, for example, commit the happiness of the world to a Corn- modus. A certain imbecility of character was in effect the chief blemish of Aurelius. It would almost seem as if too early a study of speculative philosophy were detrimental to a man who is called on to take an active part in the affairs of life, and to direct the destinies of an empire, "If a man," says Gibbon, " were called to fix a period in the history of the world during which the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous, he would, with- out hesitation, name that which elapsed from the death of Domitian to the accession of Comraodus. The vast extent of the Roman empire was governed by absolute power, un- der the guidance of virtue and wisdom. The armies were restrained by the firm but gentle hand of four successive emperors, whose characters and authority commanded in- voluntary respect. The forms of the civil administration were carefully preserved by Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, and the Antonines, who delighted in the image of liberty, and were pleased with considering themselves as the accountable min- isters of the laws. Such princes deserved the honor of re- storing the republic, had the Romans of their days been capable of enjoying a rational freedom." In this passage, characterized by the author's usual preju- dices, there is certainly much that is true, but mingled with exaggeration and error. The character and reign of Ha- drian, for example, are surely not entitled to such lofty terms of praise. The brightest spot in the picture is the period of the dominion of Pius ; but our information respecting that reign is so imperfect, that we have not the means of forming a correct judgment. As happiness is seated so entirely in the mind, and depends so much on natural character, com- parisons of the amount of it enjoyed in different periods, and by different classes of persons, are quite fallacious; and we have no doubt that the guards and the populace at Rome thought themselves happier under a Nero and a Domitian than a Hadrian and an Aurelius. We still, however, agree generally in the conclusions of the historian. A. D. ISO.] COMMODUS. 189 CHAPTER III * COMMODUS. PERTINAX. JULIAN. SEVERUS. A. u. 933—964. A. D. 180—211. COMMODUS. CONSPIRACY AGAINST IIIM. PERENNIS. CLEANDER. MATERNUS AND THE DESERTERS. DEATH OF CLEANDER. VICES OF COMMODUS. HIS DEATH. ELEVATION AND MURDER OF PERTINAX. EMPIRE PUT TO AUCTION. BOUGHT BY DIDIUS JULIANUS. PESCENNIUS NIGER. SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS. CLODIUS ALBINUS. MARCH OP SEVERUS. DEATH OF JULIAN. PRiETORIANS DISBANDED. SEVERUS AT ROME. WAR "WITH NIGER. WITH ALBINUS. PARTHIAN WAR. FAMILY OF SEVERUS. PLAUTIANUS. SKVERUS IN BRITAIN. HIS DEATH. MAXIMS OF GOVERNMENT. L. yEUus Aurelius Commodus. A. u. 933—945. A. D. 180—192. L. iEuius Aurelius Commodus, the son and successor of M. Aurelius, was in the nineteenth year of his age when the death of his excellent father left him master of the Roman world. He was the first of the Roman emperors who was what was termed Porphyrogcnitus., i. e. born to a reigning emperor. Not a murmur was raised against his succession ; a liberal donative gratified the soldiers, and the war was, during the summer, prosecuted with vigor against the barbarians; but Commodus longed for the pleasures of Rome, and he will- ingly listened to their solicitations for peace. Treaties hon- orable to Rome were therefore concluded. The terms given to the Quadans and Marcomans were nearly the same as those accorded by Marcus ; but they were bound not to make war on the Jazygans, the Burrans, or the Vandals. They were each to furnish a certain number of men for the Ro- man armies. The terms imposed on the rest were not dissimilar. The emperor then returned to Rome and tri- umphed, (Oct. 22.) * Authorities : Dion, Ilerodian, the Augustan History, and the Epi- tome tors. 190 COMMODUS. [a. D. 180-183. Commodus is one among the many instances which we may find of the feebleness of education in the attempt to control the tendencies of nature.* It was in vain that Marcus had, in his own person, given his son an example of all the virtues, and had surrounded him with the ablest instructors. Their lessons were unheeded, and their pupil was distinguished only by skill in the exercises of the gladiators' school, and for the unerring aim with which he flung the javelin or shot the arrow, under the teaching of Moors and Parthians. He is also noted for being the first of the emperors who waa totally devoid of taste for literature. The foreign transactions of this reign are of little impor- tance ; the German and British frontiers merely gave their usual occupation to the legions. At Rome, for the space of about three years, all was tranquillity also; for Commodus, whose natural character, as we are assured, was weak and timid, rather than wicked, allowed himself to be directed by the able and upright men to whom his father had recom- mended him. His hours were devoted to luxury and indul- gence, till, at length, (183,) an event occurred which revealed the latent cruelty of his nature. After the death of L. Verus, Marcus had given his daugh- ter Lucilla in marriage to Pompeianus, a most respectable senator, and, after the death of her mother, he allowed her all the honors of an empress, which her brother also con- tinued to her. But, on the marriage of Commodus with a lady named Crispina, Lucilla was obliged to yield prece- dence to the reigning empress. Her haughty spirit deemed this an indignity, and she resolved on revenge. Fearing to intrust her design to her noble-minded husband, she first communicated it to Quadratus, a wealthy young nobleman, with whom she carried on an adulterous intercourse ; she also engaged in the plot Claudius Pompeianus, another of her paramours, who was betrothed to her daughter; some senators also were aware of it. As Commodus was entering the amphitheatre, through a dusky passage, Pompeianus, who was lying in wait, drew his sword, and cried, " The senate sends thee this." But the words prevented the exe- cution of his design, and he was seized by the guards. He, Quadratus, and some others, were executed ; Lucilla was, for the present, confined in the isle of Caprea;, but she was, * "The power of instruction," observes Gibbon, "is seldom of much cfTicacy, except in tliose happy dispositions where it is almost superfluous." A. D. 186.] CONSPIRACY. 191 ere long, put to death; and a similar fate soon befell her rival, Crispina, on account of adultery. In her place, Corn- modus took a freedwoman, named Marcia, who had been the concubine of Quadratus, and to whom he gave all the honors of an empress, except that of having fire borne be- fore her. The unwise exclamation of Pompeianus sank deep in the mind of Commodus : he learned to regard the senate as his deadly enemies, and many of its most illustrious members were put to death, on various pretexts. His only reliance was now on tlie guards; and the praetorian prefects soon be- came as important as in former times. The prefects now were Tarruntius Paternus and Perennis; but the arts of the latter caused the former to be removed and put to death, and the whole power of the state fell into his hands ; for the timid Commodus no longer ventured to appear in public, and all business was transacted by Perennis. The prefect removed all he dreaded, by false accusations ; and he amassed wealth by the confiscation of the properties of the nobility. His son was in command of the Illyrian legions, and he now aspired to the empire. But he had offended the army of Britain, and they deputed (ISC) fifteen hundred of their number to accuse him to Commodus of designs on the em- pire. They were supported by the secret influence of the freedman Cleander, and Perennis was given up to their vengeance. Himself, his wife, his sister, and two of his children, were massacred ; his eldest son was recalled, and murdered, on the way to Rome. The character of Perennis is doubtful, but that of Clean- der, who succeeded to his power, was one of pure evil. Cleander, a Phrygian by birth, had been brought to Rome as a slave, and sold in the public market. He was pur- chased for the palace, and placed about the person of Com- modus, with whom he speedily ingratiated himself; and when the prince became emperor, he made Cleander his chamberlain. The power of the freedman, when Perennis was removed, became absolute; avarice, the passion of a vulgar mind, was his guiding principle. All the honors and all the posts of the empire were put to sale ; pardons for any crime were to be had for money ; and, in the short space of three years, the wealth of Cleander exceeded that of the Pallas and Narcissus of the early days of the empire. A conspiracy of an extraordinary nature occurred not long after the death of Perennis. A great number of men who 192 C0M3I0DUS. [a.d. 187-189. had deserted from the armies, put themselves under the com- mand of a common soldier, named Maternus : they were joined by slaves, whom they freed from their bonds; and they ravaged for some time with impunity the provinces of Gaul and Spain. At length, (187,) when Maternus found the governors preparing to act with vigor against him, he resolved to make a desperate effort, and be emperor, or perish. He directed his followers to disperse, and repair secretly to Rome, where he proposed th;it they should as- sume the dress of the guards, and fall on the emperor during the license of the festival of the Megalesia.* All succeeded to his wishes : they rendezvoused in Rome ; but some of them, out of envy, betrayed the secret, and Maternus and some others were taken and executed. The power of Oleander was now at its height ; by gifts to Commodus and his mistresses, he maintained his influence at court, and, by the erection of baths and other public edi- fices, he sought to ingratiate himself with the people. He had also the command of the guards, for whom he had, for some time, caused praetorian prefects to be made and un- made, at his will. He at length divided the office between himself and two others; but he did not assume the title. t As an instance of the way in which he disposed of offices, we find in one year (189) no less than five-and-twenty consuls. What the ultimate views of Oleander may have been is unknown ; for he shared the usual fate of aspiring freedmen. Rome was visited at this time by a direful pestilence, and the emperor, on account of it, resided out of the city. The pestilence wa-, as usual, attended by famine; and this visita- tion of Heaven was by the people laid to the charge of the odi- ous favorite. As they were one day (189) viewing the horse- races in the circus, a party of children entered, headed by a fierce-looking girl, and began to exclaim against Oleander. The people joined in the cries, and then, rising, rushed to where Oommodus was residincj in the suburbs, demandincr the death of Oleander. But the favorite instantly ordered the praetorian cavalry to charge them, and they were driven back to the city, with the loss of many lives. When, however, the cavalry entered the streets, they were assailed by mis- * For a description of this festival, see Ovid, Fasti, iv. 179, scq. t He styled himself d pugione, ministers being thus named from their offices, ex gr. a ratianibus, ab epistolis. A. D. 192.] CRUELTY OF COMMODUS. 193 siles from the roofs of the houses; and the pcop.e, being joined by the urban cohorts, rallied, and drove them back to the palace, where Commodus still lay in total ignorance of all that had occurred ; for fear of Oleander had kept all silent. But now Marcia, or, as others said, the emperor's sister Fadilla,* seeincr the dantjer so imminent, rushed into his presence, and informed him of the truth. Without a moment's hesitation, he ordered Cleander and his son to be put to death. The people placed the head of Cleander on a pole, and dragged his body througli the streets; and, when they had massacred some of his creatures, the tumult ceased. The cruelty of Commodus displayed itself more and more every day, and several men of rank became its victims. At the same time, his lust was unbounded ; three hundred beautiful women, and as many boys, of all ages and coun- tries, filled his seraglio, and he abstained from no kind of infamy. He delighted also to exhibit proofs of his skill as a marksman, and he assumed the title and attributes of the hero Hercules. For some time, like Nero, he confined his displays to the interior of his residences; but, at length, the senate and people were permitted to witness his skill in the amphitheatre. A gallery ran round it for the safety and convenience of the emperor, from which he discharged his darts and arrows, with unerring aim, at the larger and fiercer animals, while he ventured into the arena to destroy the deer and other timid creatures. A hundred lions were at once let loose, and each fell by a single wound; an irritated panther had just seized a man — a dart was flung by the em- peror, and the beast fell dead, while the man remained un- injured. With crescent-headed arrows he cut off the heads of ostriches, as they ran at full speed. But his greatest delight was to combat as a jrladiator. He appeared in the character of a Secutor : he caused to be re- corded 735 victories which he had gained, and he received each time an immense stipend out of the gladiatorial fund. Instead of Hercules, he now styled himself Paulus, after a celebrated Secutor, and caused it to be inscribed on his statues. He also took up his abode in the residence of the gladiators. At length, the tyrant met the fate he merited. It was his design to put to death the two consuls elect for the year 193, * Dion says Marcia, Hfrodian Fadilla. Tillemont and Gibbon unite the two. CONTIN. 17 V 194 PERTINAX. [a. D. 193. and, on new year's day, to proceed from the gladiators' school, in his gladiatorial habit, and enter on the consulate. On the preceding day, he communicated his design to Marcia, who tried in vain to dissuade him from it. Q,. /Elius Laetus, the praetorian prefect, and the chamberlain, Eclectus, also reasoned with him, but to as little purpose. He testified much wrath, and uttered some menaces, knowing that the threats of the tyrant were the sure precursors of death, they saw their only hopes of safety lay in anticipation ; they took their resolution on the moment ; * and when Commodus came from the bath, Marcia, as was her usual practice, handed him a bowl, (in which she had now infused a strong poison,) to quench his thirst. He drank the liquor off, and then laid himself down to sleep. The attendants were all sent away. The conspira- tors were expecting the effect of the poison, when the empe- ror began to vomit profusely. Fearing now that the poison would not take effect, they brought in a vigorous wrestler, named Narcissus ; and, induced by the promise of a large reward, he laid hold on and strangled the emperor. P. Helvius Pertinax. A. u. 946. A. D. 193. The conspirators had, it is probable, already fixed on the person who should succeed to the empire ; and their choice was one calculated to do them credit. It was P. Helvius Pertinax, the prefect of the city, a man now advanced in years, who had with an unblemished character, though born in an humble rank, passed through all the civil and military gradations of the state. Pertinax was the son of a freed- man who was engaged in the manufacture of charcoal, at Alba Pompeia, in the Apennines. He commenced life as a man of letters; but, finding the literary profession unprofit- able, he entered the army as a centurion, and his career of advancement was rapid. It was yet night when La^tus and Eclectus proceeded with * Herodian tells us of a list of those destined to be put to death, taken by a child, and read by Marcia, as in the case of Domitian. But he is a very inaccurate writer ; and Dion, who was a senator, and in Rome at the time, could hardly have been ignorant of the circum- stance, if it were true. A. D. 193.] plrt;nax. 195 some soldiers to the house of Pertinax. When informed of their arrival, he ordered tliem to be brought to his chamber, and then, without rising, tohl ti)em that he had long expected every night to be his last, and bade them execute their office; for he was certain that Commodus had sent them to put him to death. But they informed him that the tyrant himself was no more, and that they were come to offer him the em- pire. He hesitated to give credit to them ; but, Jiaving sent one on whom he could depend, and ascertained that Com- modus was dead, he consented to accept the proffered dig- nity. Though it was not yet day, they all repaired to the prajtorian camp ; and Lretus, having assembled the soldiers, told them that Commodus was suddenly dead of apoplexy, and that he had brought them his successor, a man whose merits were known to them all. Pertinax then addressed them, promising a large donative. By this time, the people (for Laitus had caused the news of Commodus's death to be spread through the city) had gathered round the camp, and, urged by their shouts and importunity, the soldiers swore fidelity to the emperor, though they feared that he was a man who would renew the strictness of discipline. Before dawn, the senate was summoned to the temple of Concord, whither Pertinax had proceeded from the camp. He told them what had occurred, and, noticing his awe and !iis humble extraction, pointed out divers senators as more worthy of the empire than himself. But they would not listen to his excuses, and they decreed him all the imperial titles. Then, giving a loose to their rage against the fallen tyrant, they termed him parricide, gladiator, the enemy of the gods and of his country, and decreed that his statues should be cast down, his titles be erased, and his body dragged with the hook through the streets. But Pertinax respected too nmch the memory of Marcus to suffer the re- mains of his son to be thus treated ; and they were, by his order, placed in the tomb of Hadrian. Pertinax was cheerfully acknowledged by all the armies. Like Vespasian, he was simple and modest in his dress and mode of life, and he lived on terms of intimacy with the respectable members of the senate. He resigned his private property to his wife and son, but would not suffer the senate to bestow on them any titles. He regulated the finances with the greatest care, remitting oppressive taxes, and can- celling unjust claims. He sold by auction all the late tyrant's instruments of luxury, and obliged his favorites to 196 PEUTINAX. [a. d. 193 disgorge a portion of their plunder. He granted the waste lands in Italy and elsewhere ibr a term of years rent-free to those who would undertake to improve them. The reforming hand of the emperor was extended to all departments of the state ; and men looked for a return of the age of the Antonines. But the soldiers dreaded the restoration of the ancient discipline; and Lstus, who found that he did not enjoy the power he had expected, secretly fomented tlieir discontent. So early as the 3d of January, they had seized a senator named Triarius Maternus, intend- ing to make him emperor ; but he escaped from them, and fled to Pertinax for protection. Some time after, while the em- peror was on the sea-coast attending to the supply of corn, they prepared to raise Sosius Falco, then consul, to the empire ; but Pertinax came suddenly to Rome, and, having complained of Falco to the senate, they were about to pro- claim him a public enemy, when the emperor cried that no senator should suffer death while he reigned ; and Falco was thus suffered to escape punishment. Some expressions which Pertinax used on this occasion irritated the soldiers ; and Lajtus, to exasperate them still more, put several of them to death, as if by his orders. Ac- cordingly, on the 28th of March, a general mutiny broke out in the camp, and two or three hundred of the most desper- ate proceeded with drawn swords to the palace. No one opposed their entrance. Pertinax, when informed of their approach, advanced to meet them. He addressed them, reminding them of his own innocence and of the obligation of their oath. They were silent for a few moments; at length a Tungrian soldier struck him with his sword, crying, " The soldiers send thee this." They all then fell on him, and, cutting off his head, set it on a lance, and carried it to the camp. Eclectus, faithful to the last, perished with the emperor; Lsetus had fled in disguise at the approach of the mutineers. The reign of the virtuous Pertinax had lasted only eighty-six days; he was in the sixty-seventh year of his age. M. Didius Severus Jtilianus. A. u. 946. A. D. 193. The mutineers, on their return to the camp, found there Sulpicianus, the prefect of the city, the late emperor's father- A. D. 193.] JULIANUS. 197 in-law, wlio had been sent thither to try to appease the mu- tiny. The bloody proof which they bore of the empire's being vacant, excited, while it should have extinguished, his ambition, and he forthwith began to treat for the dangerous prize. Immediately some of the soldiers ran, and, ascending the ramparts, cried out aloud, that the empire was for sale, and would be given to the highest bidder. The news reached the ears of Didius Julianus, a wealthy and luxurious senator, as he sat at table ; and, urged by his wife and daughter, and his parasites, he rose and hastened to the camp. The mili- tary auctioneers stood on the wall, one bidder within, the other without. Sulpicianus had gone as high as 5000 denars a man, when his rival, at one bidding, rose to 6250. This spirited offer carried it ; the soldiers also had a secret dread that Sulpicianus, if emperor, might avenge the death of his son-in-law. The gates were thrown open, and Julian was admitted and saluted emperor ; but the soldiers had the gen- erosity to stipulate for the safety of his rival. From the camp, Julian, escorted by the soldiers, proceed- ed to the senate-house. He was there received with affected joy, and the usual titles and honors were decreed him; but the people stood aloof and in silence, and those who were more distant uttered loud curses on him. When Julian came to the palace, the first object that met his eyes was the corpse of his predecessor; he ordered it to be buried, and then, it is said, sat down and passed the greater part of the night at a luxurious banquet, and playing at dice. In the morning, the senate repaired to him with their feigned com- pliments; but the people still were gloomy; and, when he went down to the senate-house, and was about to offer incense to the Janus before the doors, they cried out that he was a parricide, and had stolen the empire. He promised them money, but they would have none of it; and at length he or- dered the soldiers to fall on them, and several were killed and wounded. Still they ceased not to revile him and the sol- diers, and to call on the other armies, especially that of Pescennius Niger, to come to their aid. The principal armies were that of Syria, commanded by Niger ; that of Pannonia, under Septimius,S^verus ; and that of Britain, under Clodius Albinus, each composed of three legions, with its suitable number of auxiliaries. C. Pescennius Niger was a native of Aquinum, of a sim- ple equestrian family. He entered the army as a centurion, and rose, almost solely by merit, till he attained the lucrative 17* 198 JCLIANUS. [a. d. 193. government of Syria. As an officer, Niger was a rigorous maintainor of discipline; as a governor, he was just, but mild and indulgent; and he succeeded in gaining alike the affections of the soldiers and the subjects. In his private life, he was chaste and temperate. L. Septimius Severus was born at Leptis in Africa. He received a learned education, and devoted himself to the bar, and M. Aurelius made him advocate of the fisc. He acted as civil governor of several provinces, and had, oc- casionally, a military command, but had seen little or no actual service. After his consulate, Commodus, through the influence of Lsetus, gave him the command of the Pan- nonian legions.* D. Clodius Albinus was also an African. He was born at Adrumetum, of an honorable family, which derived its origin from the Postumii and Ceionii of Rome. He entered the army early, and rose through all the gradations of the service, being highly esteemed by M. Aurelius. He com- manded in Bithynia, at the time of the revolt of Cassius, and kept his legions in their duty. Commodus gave him the command in Gaul and in Britain, and designed him for his successor. Albinus was a strict and even severe officer. He was fond of agriculture, on which subject he wrote some books. He was charged with private vices, but probably without reason. When the intellio-ence of the murder of Pertinax, and the sale of the empire to Julian, reached the armies of Syria and Pannonia, their generals saw the prospect of empire open to them as the avengers of the emperor whom they had acknowledged. Each of them assembled his troops, and expatiated on the atrocity of the deed which had been per- petrated at Rome, and each was saluted Augustus by his army and the subjects. But while Niger, seeing all the provinces and allied princes of Asia unanimous in his fa/or, and therefore indulwinsf in confidence, remained inactive at Antioch, Severus resolved to push on for the capital, and possess himself of that seat of empire. Having secured the adherence of the army of Gaul, he wrote a most friendly letter to Albinus, giving him the title of Caesar, and adopting • See hi3 Life, in the Aucrustan History. " The youth of Severus," says Gibbon, " had been trained in the implicit obedience of camps, and his riper years spent in the despotism of military command." We have noticed some similar inaccurate assertions in this writer, who is in general so correct. A. D. 193.] JULIANUS. 199 him as his son ; by which he made sure of his neutrality, if not of his cooperation. He then advanced by rapid marches for Rome. Day and night he appeared in full armor, and surrounded by a guard of six hundred chosen men, who never laid aside their corselets. Resistance was no where offered ; all hailed him as the avenger of Pertinax. The wretched Julian was filled with dismay when he heard of the approach of the formidable Pannonian army. He made the senate declare Severus a public enemy ; he distributed large sums of money to the prstorians to induce them to prepare to defend him ; but these dissolute troops were vigorous only for evil, and they could not resume the discipline they had lost; the marines summoned from Mise- num were still more inefficient; and an attempt at training elephants for war, in the Oriental manner, only excited de- rision, Julian also caused an intrenchment to be run in front of the city, and he secured the palace with strong doors and bars, as \{ it could be maintained when all else was lost. He put to death Marcia, Laetus, and all concerned in the murder of Commodus, probably with a view to the favor of the soldiery. Severus, meantime, had reached Ravenna, and secured the fleet. Julian, having made some fruitless attempts on his life, caused the senate to declare him his associate in the empire. But Severus now disdained such divided pow- er ; he had written to the praetorians, assuring safety to all but the actual assassins of Pertinax, and they had accepted the conditions. The consul, Silius Messala, assembled the senate, and it was resolved to put Julian to death, and give the empire to Severus. When those char/ged with the man- date for his death came to Julian, hislonly words were, " What evil have I done 1 Whom have A slain ? " He was then killed by a common soldier, after a reign of only sixty- six days. L. Septimius Severus. A. u. 946—964. A. D. 193—211. Severus was met at Interamna ( Terni) in Umbria, sev- enty miles from Rome, by deputies from the senate. He received them with favor, and still continued to advance. 200 SEVERUS AT ROME. [a. D. 193. As he drew nigh to Rome, he commanded the execution of the murderers of Pertinax ; and he sent orders to the remaining praetorians to leave their arms in their camp, and come to meet him, dressed as they were wont when attend- ing the emperors on solemn occasions. They obeyed ; and Severus received them in the plain, before his camp, and addressed them from a tribunal, reproaching them with the murder of Pertinax, and the sale of the empire to Julian. He would spare their lives, he said, but he would leave them nothing save their tunics, and death should be the fate of any of them who ever came within a hundred miles of the capital. While he was speaking, his soldiers had impercep- tibly surrounded them ; resistance was vain, and they quiet- ly yielded up their swords, and their rich habiliments, and mournfully retired. A detachment had, meantime, taken possession of their camp, to obviate the effects of their despair. Severus entered the city at the head of his army. The senate and people met him with all the marks of joy and festivity. He ascended the Capitol and worshipped ; he then visited the other temples, and at length proceeded to the palace. In the morning, he met the senate, to whom he made a speech full of the fairest promises, assuring them that Marcus should be his model, and swearing that he would put no senator to death, unless condemned by themselves — an oath which he kept but indifferently. The usual titles and powers had been already decreed him; among these was the title of Pertinax, of which prince he affected to be the avenger, and the ceremony of whose deification he per- formed with the greatest magnificence and solemnity. He distributed large sums of money among the soldiers and people ; he regulated the supply of provisions, and he ex- amined into the conduct of several governors of provinces, and punished those who were proved guilty of oppression or extortion. Severus restored the prsetorian guards, on a new model, and raised them to four times their original number. Au- gustus had admitted none but Italians into this body ; the youth of Spain, Noricum, and Macedonia, had gradually been suffered to enlist in it; but Severus threw it open to all, selecting the ablest and most faithful soldiers from the legions, for the higher pay and more easy life of the guards- men. After a stay of only thirty days in Rome, Severus set A. D. 194-196] PESCENNIUS NIGER. 201 out for the war against Niger, who was master of all Asia, and held the strong city of Byzantium in Europe. The preparations, on both sides, occupied some time ; at length, Severus took the field; and, leaving part of his troops to carry on the siege of Byzantium, he sent the main body of his army, under his generals, over the Hellespont, ^niil- ianus, the proconsul of Asia, gave them battle (194) near Cyzicus, but was defeated, lie fled to Cyzicus, and thence to another unnamed town, where he was seized and put to death. Niger, in person, afterwards engaged the Severian general, Candidus, between Nicsa and Kios. The contest was long and arduous, but victory declared for the European army ; and Niger, leaving troops to guard the passes of Mount Taurus, hastened to Antioch, to raise men and money. The elements, however, favored Severus ; heavy falls of rain and snow destroyed the defences constructed by Niger, and his troops were obliged to abandon the passes, and leave Cilicia open to the enemy. Ni^er made his final stand at the Cilician Gates, as the pass from Cilicia into Syria, at the head of the Bay of Issus, was named, a place famous for the defeat of Darius by Alex- ander the Great. The troops of Niger were more numerous, but they were mostly raw levies; yet they fought with con- stancy ; but the elements, we are told, again favored the Seve- rians ; a storm of rain and thunder came over the sea, and blew full in the faces of the Nigrians, and they fled, with the loss of 20,000 men. Niger hastened to Antioch ; and thence, on the approach of the enemy, he fled to the Euphrates, in order to seek refuge with the Parthians; but he had hardly quitted the town, when he was seized, and his head was cut off and sent to Severus. \ This emperor, who had been in none of the preceding actions, now appeared. He put to death all the senators who had borne arms for Niger ; he banished some, and seized the property of others. He put numbers of inferior rank to death ; and he treated severely Antioch and some other towns. He then (195) led his army over the Euphrates; and his gen- erals employed this and a part of the following year in reducing the various tribes and princes of Mesopotamia. While he was thus engaged, (196,) he received the joyful in- telligence of the surrender of Byzantium; which, strong by situation and fortifications, had held out for nearly three years against the valor and skill of the besieging army, and was only subdued, at last, by famine. The magistrates and 202 SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS. [a. D. 197. soldiers were all put to death ; the property of the inhabitants was sold; the walls and the public edifices were demolished; Byzantium was deprived of its title of city, and subjected, as a village, to the jurisdiction of Perinthus. It is said that Severus was meditating an invasion of Par- thia; but his thoughts were more fixed on securing the suc- cession to his children, by removing Albinus. Suitably to his character, he resolved to proceed by treachery, rather than by force. He wrote to Albinus, in the most affectionate terms, as to his dearest brother ; but the bearers of the letter were instructed to ask a private audience, as having matters of greater importance to communicate, and then to assassinate him. The suspicions of Albinus, however, being awaked, he put them to the torture, and extracted the truth. He saw that he had no alternative, that he must be emperor or nothing ; and he therefore declared himself Augustus, and passed with his army over to Gaul. Severus returned, with all possible speed, from the East, and advanced in person into Gaul against his rival. He crossed the Alps in the depth of winter ; and, after some minor engagements, a deci- sive battle was fought on the 19th of February, 197, in the neighborhood of Lyons. The united number of the combat- ants was 150,000 men ; the battle was long and dubious ; the left wing, on each side, was routed ; but Severus, who now fouglit for the first time, brought up the prastorians to the support of his beaten troops ; and, though he received a wound, and was driven back, he rallied them once more ; and, being supported by the cavalry, under his general, Lsetus, he defeated and pursued the enemy to Lyons. The loss, on both sides, was considerable; Albinus slew himself, and his head was cut off, and brought to his ungenerous enemy, who meanly insulted it; his wife and children were at first spared ; but they were soon after put to death, and their bodies cast into the Rhine. The city of Lyons was pillaged and burnt ; the chief sup- porters of Albinus, both men and women, Romans and pro- vincials, were put to death, and their properties confiscated. Having spent some time in regulating the affairs of Gaul and Britain, Severus returned to Rome, breathing vengeance against the senate ; for he knew that that body was in general more inclined to Albinus than himself, and he had found, among his rival's papers, the letters of several individual sen- ators. The very day after his arrival, he addressed them, commending the stern policy of Sulla, Marius, and Augustus, A. D. 198-203.] SEVERUS IN ASIA. 203 and blaming the mildness of Pompeius and Csesar, which proved their ruin. He spoke in terms of praise of Commo- dus, saying that the senate had no right to dishonor him, as many of themselves lived worse than he had done. He spoke severely of those who had written letters or sent presents to Albinus. Of these he pardoned five-and-thirty ; but he put to death nine-and-twenty, among whom was Sulpicianus, the father-in-law of Pertinax. These, however, were not the only victims ; the whole family of Niger, and several other illustrious persons, perished. The properties of all were confiscated ; for avarice, more perhaps than a thirst of blood, impelled Severus to cruelty. After a short stay at Rome, Severus set out again for the East; for the Parthians, taking advantage of his absence, had invaded Mesopotamia, and laid siege to Nisibis. They retired, however, when they heard of his approach ; and Se- verus, having passed the winter in Syria, making preparations for the war, crossed the Tigris the following summer, (198,) and laid siege to Ctesiphon. The Roman soldiers suffered greatly for want of supplies, and were reduced to feed on roots and herbage, which produced dysenteries ; but the em- peror persevered, and the city at length was taken. All the full-wrown males were massacred, and the women and chil- dren, to the number of 100,000, were sold for slaves. As want of supplies did not permit the Romans to remain be- yond the Tigris, they returned to Mesopotamia; and, on his way to Syria, (199,) Severus laid siege to the redoubtable Atra, but he was forced to retire, with a great loss both of men and machines. He renewed the attack/ some time after, (it is uncertain in what year,) but with as little success, be- ing obliged to retire with loss and disgrace\from before the impregnable fortress. \ Severus remained in the East till the year 203. He spent a part of that time in Egypt, where he took great pleasure in examining the pyramids and the other curiosities of that country. He at length returned to Rome, to celebrate the marriage of his elder son. The family of Severus consisted of his wife and two sons. The empress, named Julia Domna, was a native of Emesa in Syria, whom Severus, who was addicted to astrology, is said to have espoused because she had a royal nativity. She was a woman of great beauty, sense, and spirit, and a culti- vator of literature and philosophy. The elder son was at first named Bassianus ; but his father, at the time of the war 204 SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS. [a. d. 198. against Albinus, created him Caesar, by the name of Aurelius Antoninus;* and he was subsequently nicknamed Caracalla, which, to avoid confusion, is the name employed by modern historians. In the year 198, Severus created him Augustus, and made him his associate in the empire. The name of the emperor's younger son was Geta ; and ho also was styled Antoninus. The bride selected for Caracalla was Plautiila, the daugh- ter of Plautianus, the prajtorian prefect. This man was a second Sejanus; and it is very remarkable that two emperors of such superior mental powers as Tiberius and Severus should have been so completely under the influence of their ministers. Plautianus, like his master, was an African by birth; he was of mean extraction, and he seems to have early attached himself to the fortune of his aspiring coun- tryman, whose favor and confidence he won in an extraor- dinary degree ; and when Severus attained the empire, the power of Plautianus grew to such a height that he, the his- torian observes, was, as it were, emperor, and Severus cap- tain of the guards. Persons like Plautianus, when eleva- ted, rarely bear their faculties meekly. He was therefore proud, cruel, and avaricious ; he was the chief cause of so many persons of rank and fortune being put to death, in order that he might gain their properties. He seized what- ever took his fancy, whether sacred or profane, and he thus amassed such wealth that it was commonly said he was richer than Severus and his sons. Such was his pride, that no one dared approach him without his permission ; and when he appeared in public, criers preceded him, ordering that no one should stop and gaze at him, but turn aside and look down. He would not allow his wife to visit or to receive visits, not even excepting the empress. As his power was so great, he was of course the object of universal adulation. The senators and soldiers swore by his fortune, and his statues were set up in all parts of the empire. He was in effect more dreaded and more honored than the emperor himself. Such power is, however, unstable in its very nature ; and the marriage of his daughter with the son of the emperor * Severus, not content with expressing his veneration and respect for the memory of M. Aurelius, had the folly to pretend to be his son. " What most amazed us," says Dion, (Ixxv. 7,) " was his saying that he was the son of Marcus and brother of Commodus." A. D. 203-208.] PLAUTIANUS. 205 caused the downfall of Plautianus. The wedding was cele- brated with the utmost magnificence; the dower of the bride, we are told, would have portioned fifty princesses; and, as it was the custom of the East for ladies to be attended by eunuchs, Plautianus [reduced to this condition] not less than one hundred persons of noble birth, many of them fathers of families, in order to place them about his daughter on this occasion. Plautilhi was haughty, like himself; and Cara- calla, who had been forced to marry her, hated father and daughter alike, and resolved on their destruction. He induced one Saturninus and two other centurions to declare that Plautianus had ordered them and seven of their comrades to murder Severus and his son. A written order to this effect was forged and shown to the emperor, who forthwith sum- moned Plautianus to his presence. lie came, suspecting nothing; he was admitted, but his followers were excluded. Severus, however, addressed him in a mild tone, and asked him why he had meditated killing him. Plautianus was ex- pressing his surprise, and commencing his defence, when Caracalla sprang forward, tore his sword from him, struck him with his fist, and would have slain him with his own hand, but for the interference of his father. He then made some of his attendants despatch him, and sent his head to the empress and Plautilla — a joyful sight to the one, a mourn- ful spectacle to the other. Plautilla and her brother Plau- tius were sent to the isle of Lipara, where they lived in poverty and misery for the remainder of the reign of Severus ; and their murder was one of the first acts of[Caracalla, when emperor. Severus now remained in Italy for a spac^ of four years, actively engaged in the administration of justice, the regula- tion of the finances, and the correction of all kiads of abuses. He conferred the important post of praetorian prefect on Papinian, the most renowned of jurisconsults ; and as it was now a part of this officer's duty to try civil causes, Papinian appointed, as his assessors, Paulus and Ulpian — names nearly as distinguished as his own. In the year 208, Severus, though far advanced in years, and a martyr to the gout, set out for Britain, where the northern tribes had, for some time, been making their usual incursions into the Roman part of the island. Various mo- tives are assigned for this resolution ; the most probable is, that he wished to remove his .sons from the luxury of Rome, and to restore the relaxed discipline of the legions. He en- CONTIN. 18 206 SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS. [a. D. 211. tered the wild country north of the Roman wall, cut down the woods, and passed the marshes, and succeeded in penetrating to the extremity of the island, though with a loss, it is said, of 50,000 men ; for the barbarians, who would never venture to give him battle, hung on his flanks and rear, formed numerous ambuscades, and cut off all stragglers. In order to check their future incursions, he repaired and strength- ened the mound or wall which Hadrian had constructed from the Eden to the Tyne. Severus had associated his second son, Geta, in the empire the year he came to Britain. But the two brothers hated each other mortally, and Caracalla made little secret of his resolution to reign alone. This abandoned youth, it is said, even attempted to kill his father in the very sight of the Roman legions and the barbarian enemies ; for, as the em- peror was riding, one day, to receive the arms of the Cale- donians, Caracalla drew his sword to stab him in the back : those who were about them cried out, and Severus, on turn- ing round, saw the drawn sword in the hand of his son. He said nothing at the time; but, when he returned, he called Caracalla, with Papinian and the chamberlain Castor, to him in private, and, causing a sword to be laid before him, rebuked his son, and then told him, if he desired his death, to slay him with his own hand, or to order Papinian, the prefect, to do it, who of course would obey him, as he was emperor. Cara- calla showed no signs of remorse; and, though Severus had often blamed M. Aurelius for postponing his public duty to his private affections, in the case of Commodus, he himself exhibited even greater and more culpable weakness. Severus was once more about to take the field against the barbarians, who had renewed their ravages, (211°) when a severe fit of the gout carried him off, at York, {Ehoracum,) in the sixty-sixth year of his age, and the eighteenth of hia reign. Though this emperor had passed the greater part of his life in civil rather than military employments, it is remarkable that his government relied more on the arms of the soldiery than that of any of his predecessors, and that more than any he corrupted the military spirit of the nation, by excessive indulgence to the soldiers. We have seen the important changes which he made in the praetorian guards, whom he also seems to have been the first to employ on foreign ser- vice. Hitherto the legions of the frontiers had maintained something of the appearance of those of the republic ; but A. D. 211.] CABACALLA. 207 Severus unstrung the nerves of their discipline by allowing them to have their wives and families in their camps, and to wear gold rings, like the knights, and by increasing their pay, and accustoming them to donatives. His dying counsel to his sons, " Be united, enrich the soldiers, despise all others," revealed his principles of despotic government. CHAPTER IV.* CARACALLA, MACRINUS, ELAGABALUS, ALEXANDER. A. u. 9G4— 988. A. D. 211—235. caracalla and geta. murder of geta. cruelty op caracalla. german war. parthian war. massa- cre at alexandria. murder of caracalla. eleva- tion of macrinus. his origin and character. con- spiracy against him. his defeat and death. ela- gabalus. his superstition and cruelty. adoption of alexander. death of elegabalus. mam^a. Alexander's character and mode of l,ife. — murder OF ULPIAN. revolution IN PERSIA. p4:RSIAN WAR. ALEXANDER IN GAUL. HIS MURDER. THE ROMAN ARMY. M. Aurelius Antoninus Caracafla A. u. 964—970. A. D. 211—21 In spite of the efforts of Caracalla to the contrary, the army proclaimed the two sons of Severus joint emperors. The Caledonian war was abandoned, and the emperors re- turned to Rome, to celebrate the obsequies of their father. On the way, Caracalla made various attempts on the life of his brother; but Geta was protected by the soldiery, of whom he was the favorite. The brothers adopted every precaution against each other on the road, and at Rome they divided the palace, securing all the approaches to their several por- * Authorities : Dion, Herodian, the Augustan History, Zosimus, and the Epitomators. 208 CARACALLA. [a. D. 212. tions. The court, the camp, the senate, and the people, were divided in their affections to the brothers, neither of whom was, in reality, deserving of the attachment of any man of worth ; but Geta had a certain degree of mildness and humanity, of affability, and of devotion to literature, which gave him the advantage over his more ferocious brother, and gained him the affection of their mother, Julia. As there seemed no probability of concord between the brothers, a division of the empire was proposed and arranged, by wliich Caracalla was to retain the European portion, while Geta was to rule in Asia and Egypt, residing at Antioch or Alexandria. This arrangement, it is said, was defeated by the tears and entreaties of Julia ; and Caracalla, bent on reicrninor alone, then resolved on the murder of his brother. At his desire, (212,) Julia invited her two sons to a meetmg in her apartments. Geta came, suspecting no danger; sud- denly some centurions, whom Caracalla had placed in con- cealment, rushed out, and fell on iiim. He threw himself on his mother's bosom for protection ; but her efforts to save him were vain ; she herself received a wound in the arm, and was covered with the blood of her murdered son. When the deed was done, Caracalla hastened to the camp, crying all the way that a plot had been laid for his life. He flung himself down before the standards, in the camp chapel, to return thanks for his preservation ; and then addressed the soldiers, assuring them that he was one of themselves, and depended on them alone. He promised to raise their pay one half, and to dis- tribute among them all the treasures accumulated by his father. Such arguments could not fail of convincing, and he was readily proclaimed sole emperor. He thence pro- ceeded to the camp, at the Alban Mount,* where he found more difficulty, as the soldiers there were much attached to Geta ; but, by dint of promises, he gained them also to acknowledge him. Followed by the soldiers, Caracalla then proceeded to the senate-house; he had a cuirass under his robe, and he brought some of his military followers into the house. He justified his conduct by the example of Romulus and others; but he spoke of Geta with regret, and gave him a magnificent funeral, and placed him among the gods.t * This was a camp of the prfctorians also. The troops belonging to it arc called the Albanians by the historians. t " Sit divus duminodo non sit vivus," are said to have boen his words. A. D. 214-215.] CRUELTY OF CARACALLA. 209 The unhappy empress dared not lament the death of her son ; she was even obliged to wear an aspect of joy for the safety of the etnperor, who, all through his reign, continued to treat her with respect, and to give her a share in the affairs of state. But on all the other friends and favorers of Geta, both civil and military, he let his vengeance fall without restraint ; and the number of those who perished on this account is estimated at twenty thousand. Among these, the most regretted was the great Papinian. Caracalla, it is said, wished him to compose an apology for the murder of Geta; but he replied, with virtuous intrepidity, that it was not so easy to excuse a parricide as to commit it. A soldier cut off his head with an axe, and Caracalla rebuked him for not having used a sword. Fadilla, the surviving daughter of M. Aurelius, was put to death for having lamented Geta. Hel- vius Pertinax, son of the emperor, Thrasea Priscus, a de- scendant of the great lover of liberty, and many other persons of rank and virtue, were involved in the common ruin. To such an extent, it is said, did Caracalla carry his hatred to his brother, that the comic poets no longer ventured to em- ploy the name of Geta in their plays. Like Commodus, the emperor devoted most of his time to the circus and amphitheatre. In order to defray his enor- mous expenses, he increased the taxes and confiscated all the properties he could lay hold on. When his mother one day blamed him for bestowing such enormous sums on the soldiers, and said that he would soon have no source of reve- nue remaining, he laid his hand on his sword, and said, in the true spirit of despotism, " Never fear, mother ; while we have this, we shall not want for money." One of the acts of Caracalla, at this time, \<^s to confer the rights of citizenship, of which the old repul^licans had been so chary, on all the subjects of the empire. "^ His restless temper soon urged him to seek for glory in a contest with the Germans. He marched to the Rhine, and obtained (by purchase, as it would seem) some advantages over the confederacy of the Alemans, whose name now first appears in history. He henceforth wonderfully affected the Germans, even wearing a blond periwig, to resemble them ; and he placed a number of them about him as guards. It is thought that it was on the occasion of his return to Rome from Gaul, after this war, (214,) that he distributed among the people the long Gallic coats, named Caracals, whence he derived the appellation by which he is usually known. 18* A A 210 CARACALLA. [a. d. 215-216. After his German war, he inarched to the Danube, (215,) visited the province of Dacia, and had some skirmishes with the neighboring barbarians. He then passed over to Asia with the intention of making war on the Parthians, and spent the winter at Nicomedia. As he professed an especial regard for the memory of Achilles, he visited the remains of Ilium, offered sacrifices at the tomb of the hero, led his troops in arms round it, and erected a brazen statue on its summit. One of his freed- men happening to die, or being poisoned by him for the purpose, he acted over again the Homeric funeral of Patro- clus, pouring, like Achilles, wine to the winds, to induce them to inflame the pyre, and cutting off the hair, with which nature had furnished him most scantily, to cast into the flames. In thus honoring Achilles, he sought to follow the example of Alexander the Great — a prince of whom his ad- miration was such that he erected statues of him every where ; and he formed a phalanx of sixteen thousand Macedonians armed as in the time of that prince, whom he styled the Eastern Augustus. He even persecuted the Peripatetic phi- losophers, because Aristotle was accused of being concerned in the death of his royal pupil. In the spring, (216,) Caracalla set out for Antioch. The Partiiians averted a war by the surrender of two persons whom he demanded. By treachery, he made himself master of the persons of the king of Armenia and his sons, and of the prince of Edessa ; but the Armenians defeated the troops which he sent against them under Theocritus, a common player, whom he had raised to the dignity of praetorian pre- fect. He then proceeded to Alexandria with the secret re- solve of taking a bloody vengeance on the inhabitants of that city for their railleries and witticisms against him on the occasion of the murder of his brother. When he approached the city, the people came forth to meet him, with all the marks of joy and respect, and he received them graciously, and entered the town. Then, pretending a design of form- ing a phalanx in honor of Alexander, he directed all the youth to appear in the plain without the walls. When they had done as required, he went through them, as it were to inspect them ; and then, retiring to the temple of Serapis, he gave the signal to his soldiers to fall on them and massacre them. The slaughter was dreadful both within and without the walls, for no age or rank was spared. Trenches were xlug, and the dead and dying were flung into them, in order A. D. 217.] 5IACR1NUS. 211 to conceal the extent of the massacre. He deprived the city of all its privileges, and its total ruin was only averted by his death. After this slaughter of his helpless subjects, Caracalla re- turned to Antioch ; and, in order to have a pretext for making war on the Parthians, he sent to Artabanus, their kino-, de- manding his daughter in marriage. The Parthian monarch having refused this strange suit, Caracalla invaded and rav- aged his territories ; and, having taken Arbela, where were the royal tombs, he opened them, and scattered the bones of the monarchs which were deposited within them. He then took up his winter quarters in Edcssa. In the spring, (217,) both sides were engaged in active preparation for war; when a conspiracy in his own army terminated the life and reign of the Roman emperor. Of the two praetorian prefects, the one, Adventus, was a mere soldier, the other, Macrinus, was a civilian, well versed in the laws. The rough and brutal Caracalla often ridiculed him on this account, and even menaced his life ; and Macri- nus, having wot sure information that his destruction was de- signed, resolved to anticipate the tyrant. He accordingly com- municated his desiorns to some of the officers of the guards, among whom was one Martial, whom Caracalla had mortally offended by refusing him the post of centurion, or, as others say, by putting his brother to death. Accordingly, on the 8th of April, 217, as the emperor was riding from Edessa to Carrhse in order to worship at the temple of the Moon, and had retired and alighted for a private occasion. Martial ran up, as if called, and stabbed him in the throat. i The empe- ror fell down dead. Martial mounted his hoi\se and fled ; but he was shot by a Scythian archer of the guand- M. Opilius Macrinus. A. u. 970—971. A. D. 217—218. When the news of the murder of the emperor was di- vulged, Macrinus was the first to hasten to the spot, and to deplore his death. As Caracalla had left no heir, the army was uncertain whom to proclaim emperor in his stead, and the empire was for four days without a chief Meantime the officers who were in the interests of Macrinus, used all their influence with their men, and on the fourth day he was 212 MACRINUS. [a. d. 217. saluted emperor. He accepted the office with feigned reluc- tance; and he distributed, according to custom, large sums of money among the soldiers. Adventus was the bearer of the ashes of Caracalla to Rome, where they were deposited in the tomb of the Antonines ; and Macrinus and the senate were obliged to yield to the instances of the soldiers, and place the monster among the gods. The senate received with joy the letter in which Macrinus announced his eleva- tion to the empire, and they decreed him all the usual titles and honors. While these changes were taking place in the Roman empire, Artabanus had passed the Tigris with a large army. Macrinus, having in vain proposed terms of accommodation, led out his legions, and some fighting took place in the neighborhood of Nisibis, in which the advantage was on the side of the Parthians ; but, as they now began to feel the want of supplies, and were anxious to return home, they readily listened to the renewed proposals of the Roman emperor, and a peace was concluded. Macrinus then led his troops back to Antioch for the winter. Macrinus, as we have already observed, was not a military man. He was a native of Csesarea in Africa, (Algiers,) of humble origin, and he was indebted for his elevation to his countryman Plautianus. He was a man of an amiable dis- position, and a sincere lover of justice. He therefore turned his attention chiefly to civil regulations, and he made some necessary reforms and excellent laws; but he was timid by nature, and, in his anxiety to serve and advance his friends, he did not sufficiently consider their fitness for the employ- ments which he bestowed on them. He committed a great and irreparable fault in not setting out for Rome at once, and in keeping the army all together in Syria ; and he further commenced too soon a necessary but imprudent attempt at bringing back the discipline of the legions to what it had been under Severus; for, though he applied it only to re- cruits, and did not interfere with the old soldiers, these last apprehended that the reform would at length reach them- selves ; and they became highly discontented. This feeling of the soldiers was soon taken advantage of, and a rival set up to Macrinus. The empress Julia was at Antioch at the time of the mur- der of Caracalla. Macrinus wrote to her in very obliging terms; but, in the first transports of her grief at the death of her son, or the loss of her power, she had given herself sev- A. D. 218.] CONSPIRACY. 213 eral blows on the breast, and thus irritated a cancer with which she was afflicted, and her death ensued. Her sister, named Maisa, who had lived at court during tlie two last reigns, and had acquired immense wealth, retired, by order of Macrinus, to her native town of Emesa. She had two daughters, named Soasinis and Mamaea, each of whom was a widow with an only son ; that of tlie former was named Bassianus ; he was now a handsome youth of seventeen years of age, and the influence of his family had procured for him the lucrative priesthood of the Sun, who was worshipped at Emesa under the title of Elagabalus. The Roman troops who were encamped near the town, used to frequent the temple, and they greatly admired the comely young priest, whom they knew to be a cousin of their lamented Caracalla. The artful Mcesa resolved to take advantage of that feeling, and she made no scruple to sacrifice the reputation of her daughters to the hopes of empire : she therefore declared (what was perhaps true) that Caracalla used to cohabit with her daughters in the palace, and that Bassianus was in reali- ty his son. Her assertion, backed with large sums of money, and lavish promises of more, found easy acceptance with the soldiers. On the night of the 15th of May, 218, she and her daughter and grandson, and the rest of her family, conducted by their eunuch Gannys, a man of great talent, stole out of the city, and proceeded to the camp, where they were joy- fully received; and Bassianus was proclaimed emperor by the title of M. Aurelius Antoninus. The camp was imme- diately put into a state of defence against a siege ; and num- bers of the other soldiers hastened to sustain me cause of the son of Caracalla. \. Macrinus sent the prtetorian prefect, Ulpius JoUanus^ against the rebels. This officer was successful in his first attack on their camp ; but, having neglected to push his advan- tage, he gave the enemy time for tampering with his troops, a part of whom abandoned him ; and he was taken and slain. Macrinus had meantime advanced as far as Apamea; where he declared his son Diadumenianus, a boy of only ten years of age, Augustus ; and took this opportunity of promising a large gratuity to the army ; he also wrote against Bassianus, to the senate and governors of provinces. But instead of advancing rapidly against the rebels, he fell back to Antioch, whither they speedily followed him, and he was forced to give them battle near that town. The troops of Bassianus were ably disposed by the eunuch Gannys, who, now in arms 214 ELAGABALUS. [a. D. 219. for the first time in his life, showed the talents of a general. But the prjEtorians, on the side of Macrinus, fought with such determined valor, that the rebels were on the point of flying, when Majsa and Soaemis rushed out and stopped them; and Bassianus, sword in hand, led them on to the combat. Still the praetorians gave not way, and victory would have declared for Macrinus, had he not dastardly fled in the midst of the battle. His troops, when assured of his flight, declared for Bassianus. Macrinus fled in disguise, and never stopped till he came to Chalcedon, where he was taken and put to death ; and his innocent son shared his fate. His reign had lasted only four- teen months. M. Aurelius Antoninus Elagabalus. A. u. 971—975. A. D. 218—222. From Antioch Elagabalus,* as we shall henceforth style him, wrote to the senate a letter replete with abuse of Ma- crinus, and promising that he himself would take Augustus and M, Aurelius for his models. From ignorance, or from arrogance, he assumed in it the title of Augustus and others, which the senate had been hitherto in the habit of confer- ring. They bitterly lamented the cowardice of Macrinus, and his error in not coming to Rome ; but they submitted, though with a sigh, to the rule of the pretended son of Caracalla. Elagabalus passed the winter at Nicomedia. While there, he put to death, with his own hand, Gannys, who had been the chief means of procuring him the empire, but who now wished to make him lead a regular and decorous life. Sev- eral persons of rank, both at Rome and in the provinces, had already perished by his orders, and men had little hopes of seeing the public good promoted by the new emperor. As soon as the season permitted, (219,) Ma^sa, who was impatient to return to Rome, urged her grandson to com- mence his journey. He had some time before sent thither his picture, with orders to have it hung up over the statue of Victory in the senate-house. In this, which was a full- length portrait, he appeared habited in the long, loose, Asiatic * So he is more correctly named by the Greek writers; the Latins name him Ileliogabalus. A. D. 219-2-22.] ELAGABALUS. 215 dress, with collars and necklaces, and a tiara set with gold and precious stones on his head ; and in this attire the senate and people beheld him entering the capital, Mjesa having essayed in vain to make him assume the Roman habit. He gave the usual shows and distributions of money to the peo- ple. On the first day of his appearance in the senate, he caused his grandmother to be invited thither, and she took her seat by that of the consuls, and henceforth acted in all respects as one of the members. His mother held a senate of her own, composed of ladies, who regulated all matters relating to dress, precedence, and other matters of impor- tance to the sex. The great object of the emperor's life was the exaltation of the god of Einesa. The conical black stone which repre- sented him was brought to Rome, and a stately temple was built on the Palatine to receive it; and the pious emperor proposed to transport thither the Palladium, the Ancilia, and all the sacred pledges of the empire, and thus to make it the centre of Roman religion. He also built for his god a tem- ple in the suburbs, whither the sacred stone was conveyed every spring in a magnificent car drawn by six milk-white horses, whose reins the emperor himself held, walking back- wards before them, with his eyes fixed on the image. The people flung flowers and garlands in the way ; the knights and the army joined in the procession, and when it reached the temple, gold and silver cups, garments, and all kinds of animals, except swine, were flung to the people, to scramble for. Deeming it necessary that his god shouldXhave a wife, the emperor first selected Minerva for his bride, and removed her image to the palace for the wedding; but then, consi der- , inof that her rou^h and martial nature would make her an unsuitable mate for the soft, luxurious Syrian god, he gave the preference to the Astarte or Urania of Carthage; and her image, accompanied with much treasure by way of dowry, was brought to Rome and placed in the temple of the sun-god. Elagabalus himself married four different wives, one of whom was a Vestal, which he assured the senate was a most fitting union, as between a priest and a priestess. We dare not sully our pages with the catalogue of his unnatural lusts and other excesses; suffice it to say, that the enormities of Tiberius and Nero were equalled, if not outdone, by this wretched, abandoned youth. The basest and most vicious 216 ELAGABALUS. [a. d. 219-222. of mankind were promoted to the highest offices, and the revenues of the empire were wasted with reckless prod- igality. The sagacious Msesa saw the inevitable consequences of this wanton course, and she resolved to provide for the con- tinuance of her power ; she therefore persuaded Elagabalus to adopt and declare as Caesar his cousin Alexianus, a boy four years younger than himself He yielded to her desire, and adopted him in presence of the senate, giving him the name of Alexander, under the direction, he said, of his god. He at first sought to corrupt his morals and make him like himself; but the disposition of Alexander was naturally good, and his mother, Mamaea, took care to supply him with ex- cellent masters. He then endeavored to have him secretly destroyed, but he could find no agent, and Maesa discovered and disconcerted all his plans. The soldiers had long been disgusted with the vices and the effeminacy of the emperor, and all their hopes were placed on the young Alexander. The rage of Elagabalus against that youth became at length so great that he resolved to annul the adoption; and he sent orders to the senate and soldiers no longer to give him the title of CtBsar. The con- sequence was a mutiny in the camp, and he was obliged to proceed thither, accompanied by Alexander, and agree to dismiss all the companions and agents of his vices, and to promise a reformation of his life. He thus escaped the present danger; but his violent hatred of Alexander soon in- duced him to make a new effort to destroy him. To ascer- tain the temper of the soldiers, he caused a report to be spread of the death of that prince. A tumult instantly arose, which was only appeased by his appearing in the camp with Alexander ; but finding how quickly it then subsided, he thought he might venture on punishing some of the ring- leaders. A tumult instantly broke out. Soaemis and Ma- maea animated their respective partisans ; but those of the latter proved victorious, and the wretched Elagabalus was dragged from a privy, in which he had concealed himself, and slain in the arms of his mother, who shared his fate. A stone was fastened to his body, which was flung into the Tiber. Almost all his minions and ministers fell victims to the popular vengeance. A. D. 222-232.J ALEXANDER SEVERUS. 217 M. Aurelius Alexander Scvcrus. A. u. 975—988. A. D. 222—235. Both the senate and the army joyfully concurred in the elevation of Alexander to the empire ; and the former body, lest any competitor should ni)pcar, hastened to confer on him all the imperial titles ami powers. On account of his youth and his extremely amiable disposition, he was entirely directed by his grandmother and mother; but, Maesa dying soon after his accession, the sole direction of her son fell to Mamaea. There is some reason to suppose that this able woman had embraced the Christian religion, now so preva- lent throughout the empire ; at all events, in her guidance of public affairs, she exhibited a spirit of wisdom, justice, and moderation such as had not appeared in any preceding cm- press. Her enemies laid to her charge the love of power and the love of money, and blamed her son for deferring too much to her; but their accusations are vague, and no act of cruelty, caused by avarice, stains the annals of this reign. The first care of Mamaia was to form a wise and upright council for her son. Sixteen of the most respectable of the senate, with the learned Ulpian, the praetorian prefect, at their head, composed this council, and nothing was ever done without their consent and approbation, i^ general system of reformation was commenced and steadily pursued. AH the absurd acts of the late tyrant were reversedy^ His god was sent back to Emesa; the statues of the other o^itigs^ were restored to their temples; the ministers of his vices and pleasures were sold or banished; some of the worst were drowned; the unworthy persons whom he had placed in public situations were dismissed, and men of knowledge and probity put in their places. Mamsea used the utmost care to keep away from her son all those persons by whom his morals might be corrupted ; and, in order to have his time fully occupied, she induced him to devote the greater part of each day to the administration of justice, where none but the wise and good would be his associates. The good seed fortunately fell into a kindly soil. Alexander was naturally disposed to every virtue, and all his efforts were directed to the promotion of the welfare of the empire over which he ruled. The first ten years of the reign of this prince were passed at Rome, and devoted to civil occupations. His daily course CONTIN. 19 B B 218 ALEXANDER SEVERUS. [a. d. 222-232. of life has been thus transmitted to us . He usually rose early, and entered his private chapel, {lararlum,) in which he had caused to be placed the images of those who had been teachers and benefactors of the human race, among whom he included the divine founder of the Christian reli- gion. Having performed his devotions, he took some kind of exercise, and then applied himself for some hours to pub- lic business with his council. He then read for some time, his favorite works being the Republics of Plato and Cicero, and the verses of Horace, and the Life of Alexander the Great, whom he greatly admired. Gymnastic exercises, in which he excelled, succeeded. He then was anointed and bathed, and took a light breakfast, usually of bread, milk, and eggs. In the afternoon, he was attended by his secre- taries, and he heard his letters read, and signed the answers to them. The business of the day being concluded, his friends in general were admitted, and a frugal and simple dinner followed, at which the conversation was mostly of a serious, instructive nature, or some literary work was read out to the emperor and his guests. The dress of Alexander was plain and simple; his man- ners were free from all pride and haughtiness ; he lived with the senators on a footing of friendly equality, like Augustus, Vespasian, and the wiser and better emperors. He was liberal and generous to all orders of the people, and he took an especial pleasure in assisting those persons of good family, who had fallen into poverty without reproach. Among the virtues of Alexander, was the somewhat rare one, in that age, of chastity. His mother early caused him to espouse a lady of noble birth, named Memnia, whom, however, he afterwards divorced, and even banished to Africa. The ac- counts of this affair differ greatly. According to one, the father of the empress formed a conspiracy against his son-in- law, which being discovered, he was put to death, and his daughter divorced. Others say that, as Alexander showed great respect for his father-in-law, Mama^a's jealousy was ex- cited, and she caused him to be slain, and his daughter to be divorced or banished. It appears that Alexander soon mar- ried again. We have already observed, that a portion of the civil juris- diction had fallen to the praetorian prefects. This imposed a necessity that one of them should be a civilian ; and Ma- myca had, therefore, caused this dignity to be conferred on Ulpian. From the love of law and order which distinguished A. D. 232.] PERSIAN WAR. 219 this prefect, he naturally sought to bring back discipline in the praetorian camp ; the consequence was, that repeated at- tempts were made on his life, and the emperor, more than once, found it necessary to cast his purple over him, to save him from the fury of the soldiers. At length, ('i28,) they fell on him in the night ; he escaped from them to the palace, but they pursued and slaughtered him, in the presence of the emperor and his mother. Some slight actions on the German and Moorish fron- tiers were the only occupation given to the Roman arms during the early years of the reign of Alexander ; but, in the year 232, so powerful an enemy menaced the Oriental prov- inces of the euipire, that the presence of the emperor became absolutely requisite in the East. The Parthians, whom we have had such frequent occasion to mention, are said to have been a Scythian (/. r. Turkish) people, of the north of Persia, who, taking advantage of the declining power of the Macedonian kings of Syria, cast off their yoke, (B. C. 250,) and then gradually made themselves masters of the whole of Persia. Their dominion had now lasted for five hundred years, and their power had, from the usual causes, such as family dissensions, contested suc- cessions, and such like, been long on the decline; and in the fourth year of Alexander Severus, (226,) a native Per- sian, named Artaxerxes, [Ardshir,) who pretended to be of the ancient royal line, but who is said to have been of hum- ble birth, and a mere soldier of fortune, raised a rebellion aarainst the Parthian king, Artabanus. Fortune favored the rebel, and Artabanus was defeated and slain. Artaxerxes then assumed the tiara, and his line, which existed till the Mohammedan conquest, was named the Sassanian, from the name of his father. Affecting to be the descendant of the ancient Achceme- nians, Artaxerxes sought to restore Persia to its condition under those princes. The Magian or Light religion * re- sumed the rank from which it had fallen under the sway of the Parthians, and flourislied in its pristine glory. As the dominions of the house of Cyrus had extended to the coasts of the ^gean sea, Artaxerxes ordered the Romans to quit Asia ; and, when his mandate was unheeded, he led his troops * [That is, the system by which the sun, and fire derived from it, were considered, from their hriijhttiess and purity, the only fit embleina of God ; and, as such emblems, worship was paid every morning at the rising of the sun. — J. T. S.] 220 ALEXANDER SEVERUS. [a. D. 232. over the Tigris. But his ill fortune induced him to attack the invincible Atra, and he was forced to retire with loss and disgrace. He then turned his arms against the Medes, and some other of the more northern tribes, and when he had reduced them, he again invaded Mesopotamia, (232.) Alex- ander now resolved to take the command of his troops in person. He left Rome, followed by the tears and prayers of the people, and proceeded through lUyricum to the East. On his march, the strictest discipline was maintained, while every attention was paid to the wants of the soldiers, and care taken, that they should be abundantly supplied with clothes and arms. The emperor himself used the same fare as the men ; and he caused his tent to be thrown open w lien he was at his meals, that they might perceive his mode of life. Alexander halted at Antioch, to make preparations for the war ; meantime, he sent an embassy, with proposals of peace, to Artaxerxes. The Persian, in return, sent four hundred of his most stately men, splendidly clothed and armed, to order the Romans to quit Asia; and, if we can believe Herodian, (for the circumstance is almost incredible,) Alexander was so regardless of the laws of nations, as to seize and strip them, and send them prisoners to Phrygia. It is also said that, while he was at Antioch, finding that some of the soldiers frequented the Paphian grove of Daphne, he cast them into prison ; and that, when a mutiny broke out in the legion to which they belonged, he ascended his tribunal, had the prisoners brought before him, and ad- dressed their comrades, who stood around in arms, dwelling on the necessity of maintaining discipline. But, when his arguments proved of no effect, and they even menaced him with their arms, he cried out, in imitation of Cajsar, " Q,ui- rites, depart, and lay down your arms." The legion obeyed; and the men, no longer soldiers, took up their abode in the houses of the town, instead of the camp. After a month, the emperor was prevailed on to pardon them, but he pun- ished their tribunes with death ; and this legion was hence- forth equally distinguished by valor and fidelity. In imitation of Alexander the Great, the emperor formed six of his legions into a phalanx of thirty thousand men, to whom he gave higher pay. He also had, like that conquer- or, bodies of men distinguished by gold-adorned and silver- adorned shields — Chrysoaspids and Argyroaspids. The details of the war cannot be learned with any cer- A. D. 235.] PERSIAN WAR. 221 tainty. One historian says that Alexander made three di- visions of his army ; one of which was to enter Media tlirough Armenia, another Persia at the junction of the Tigris and Euphrates, while the emperor was in person to lead the third through Mesopotamia, and all were to join in the en- emy's country ; but that, owing to the timidity of Alexander, who loitered on the way, the second division was cut to pieces, and the first nearly all perisiied while retreating throujih Armenia in the winter. This account labors under many difficulties ; for the emperor certainly triumphed on his return to Rome; and, in his speech to the senate on that occasion, he asserted that, of 700 war elephants, which were in the enemy's array, he had killed "200, and taken 300 ; of 1,000 scythed chariots, he had taken 200; and of 120,000 heavy-armed horsemen, he had slain 10,000, beside taking a great number of prisoners. It further appears that, though Alexander did not remain in the East, the Persian monarch made no further attempts on Mesopotamia for some years. The Germans had taken advantage of the absence of the emperor and the greater part of tiie troops in the East, to pass the Rhine and ravage Gaul. Alexander, therefore, leaving sufficient garrisons in Syria, led home the Illyrian and other legions ; and, having celebrated a triumph for the Persian war at Rome, where he was received vvith the most abundant demonstrations of joy, he departed with a large army for the defence of Gaul. The Germans retired at his approach ; he advanced to the Rhine, and took up liTs-^vifl- ter quarters in the neighborhood of Mentz, with the in- tention of opening the campaign beyond the river in the spring, (235.) The narratives of the events of this reign are so very dis- cordant, that we cannot hope often to arrive at the real truth. In no part are they more at variance than in their account of the circumstances of the emperor's death. We can only collect that, whether from his effiarts to restore discipline, from the intrigues of Maximitr, an ambitious officer who had the charge of disciplining the young troops, or from some other cause, a general discontent prevailed in the army, and that Alexander was assassinated in his tent, either by his own guards or by a party sent for the purpose by Maximin, and that his mother and several of his friends perished with him. The troops forthwith proclaimed Maximin empe- ror J and the senate and people of Rome, deeply lamenting 19* 222 ALEXANDER SEVERUS. [a. D. 235. the fate of the virtuous Alexander, were forced to acquiesce in the choice of the army. Alexander had reigned thirteen years. Even the histo- rian least partial to him, acknowledges that toward his sub- jects his conduct was blameless, and that no bloodshed or unjust condemnations stain the annals of his reign. His fault seems to have been a certain degree of effeminacy and weakness, the consequence, probably, of his Syrian origin, which led to his extreme submission to his mother, against whom the charges of avarice and meanness are not perhaps wholly unfounded.* Dion Cassius, whose history ends with this reign, gives the following view of the numbers and disposition of the le- gions at this period. t Of the twenty-five which were formed by Augustus, J only nineteen remained, the rest having been broken or distributed through the others ; but the emperors, from Nero to Severus, inclusive, had formed thirteen new ones, and the whole now amounted to thirty-two legions. Of these, three were in Britain, one in Upper and two in Lower Germany, one in Italy, one in Spain, one in Numid- ia, one in Arabia, two in Palestine, one in Phcenicia, two in Syria, two in Mesopotamia, two in Cappadocia, two in Low- er and one in Upper Mcesia, two in Dacia, and four in Pan- nonia, one in Noricum, and one in Ra^tia. He does not tell us where the two remaining ones were quartered, neither does he give the number of men in a legion at this time ; but it is conjectured to have been five thousand. * The Life of Alexander, by Lampridius, in the Augustan History, is, as Gibbon observes, " the mere idea of a perfect prince an awkward imitation of the CyropiEdia." t Dion, Iv. 23. t See above, p. 36. A. D. 235.] THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 223 CHAPTER v.* MAXIMIN, PUPIENUS, BALBINUS, AND GORDI- AN, PHILIP, DECIUS, GALLUS, iEMILIAN, VALERIAN, GALLIENUS. A. u. 988—1021. A. D. 235—268. THE EMPIRE. MAXIMIN. IIIS TYRANNY. INSURRECTION IN AFRICA. THE GORDIANS. PUPIENUS AND BALBINUS. DEATH OF MAXIMIN. MURDER OF THE EMPERORS. GORDIAN. PERSIAN WAR. MURDER OF GORDIAN. PHILIP. SECULAR GAMES. DECIUS. DEATH OF PHILIP. THE GOTHS. GOTHIC WAR. DEATH OF DECIUS. GALLUS. ^MILIAN. VALERIAN. THE FRANKS. THE ALEMANS. GOTHIC INVASIONS. PERSIAN WAR. DE- FEAT AND CAPTIVITY OF VALERIAN. GALLIENUS. THE THIRTY TYRANTS. DEATH OF GALLIENUS. C Julius Vcrus Maximinus. A. u. 988—991. A. D. 235— 238\ As we advance through the history of the Roman empire, we find it deteriorating at every step, the traces of-civil government becoming continually more and more evanes- cent, and the power of the sword the only title under which obedience could be claimed. The government had, in fact, been a military despotism from the time of Augustus ; but that prudent prince, and the best of his successors, had con- cealed the odious truth beneath the forms of law and civil regulations ; and perhaps it may be considered that his own reign, and the eighty-four years from Domitian to Coinmo- dus, are among the periods of the greatest happiness which mankind have enjoyed ; absolute power being wielded by wisdom and goodness. Human nature, however, does not permit such a state to endure ; and the thirteen years of Alexander Severus form but a gleam of sunshine in the po- litical gloom of the succeeding century. Elective monarchy is an evil of the greatest magnitude. * Authorities : Herodian, the Augustan History, Zosimus, and the Epitomators. 224 MAxiMiN. [a. d. 235. He who cannot transmit his dominion to his son, will be in general little solicitous about its future condition. Nothing was farther from the intention of the founder of the Roman empire than that such should be its condition ; yet Provi- dence seems to have designedly thwarted all the efforts made to form an hereditary monarchy. The Caesarian family, and the good emperors, as they are called, were but a series of adoptions : a son sometimes succeeded his father ; but from Augustus till nearly the end of the empire, the imperial power never reached the third generation. The fiction of the two Syrian youths having been sons of Caracalla, was the last faint effort made in favor of the hereditary princi- ple : with Maximin commenced a new order ; and every sol- dier might now aspire to empire. Maximin was originally a Thracian peasant, of enormous size and strength; his stature, we are told, exceeded eight feet; his wife's bracelet made him a thumb-ring; he could draw a loaded wagon, break a horse's leg with a kick, and crumble sandstones in his hands ; he often, it is added, ate forty pounds of meat in the day, and washed them down with seven gallons of wine. Hence he was named Hercules, Antceus, and Milo of Croton. He became known to the emperor Severus on the occasion of his celebrating the birthday of his son Geta one time in Thrace. The young barbarian approached him, and, in broken Latin, craved permission to wrestle with some of the strongest of the camp followers; he vanquished sixteen of them, and received as many prizes, and was admitted into the service. A cou- ple of days after, Severus, seeing him exulting at his good fortune, spoke to a tribune about him ; and Maximin, per- ceiving that he was the object of the emperor's discourse, began to run on foot by his horse ; Severus, to try his speed, put his horse to the gallop; but the young soldier kept up with him till the aged emperor was tired. Severus asked him if he felt inclined to wrestle after his running; he replied in the affirmative, and overthrew seven of the strong- est soldiers. He rose rapidly in the service under Severus and his son; he retired to his native village when Macrinus seized the empire; he disdained to serve Elagabalus, but the accession of Alexander induced him to return to Rome. He received the command of a legion, was made a senator, and the emperor even had thoughts of giving his sister in marriage to the son of the Thracian peasant. The first care of Ma.\imin, when raised to the empire, was A. D. 225-236.] TYRANNY OF MAXIMIN. 225 to dismiss from their employments all who were in the coun- cil or family of his predecessor ; and several were put to death as conspirators, lie speedily displayed the native ferocity of his temper; for when, having completed a bridge of boats over the Rhine, commenced by Alexander, he was preparing to pass over into Germany, a conspiracy, headed by one Magnus, a consular, was discovered, the plan of which was to loose the farther end of the bridtre when Maxiinin had passed over, and thus to leave him in the hands of the Ger- mans; and, meantime, Magnus was to be proclaimed em- peror. On this occasion, he massacred upwards of four thousand persons, without any form of trial whatever ; and he was accused of having invented the conspiracy with this design. A revolt of the Eastern archers,* which occurred a few days after, being quelled, Maximin led his army into Ger- many. As no large force opposed him, he wasted and burned the country through an extent of four hundred miles. Occasional skirmishes took place in the woods and marshes, which gave Maximin opportunities of displaying his personal prowess; and he caused pictures of his victories to be painted, which he sent to Rome, to be placed ^t the door of the senate-house. \ Maximin employed the two first years of his reign in wars against the Germans and the Sarmatians. His winter resi- dence was Sirmium in Pannonia, and he nevei'^-Aonde- scended to visit Italy. But his absence was no benefit; for Italy, and all parts of the empire, groaned alike beneath his merciless tyranny. The vile race of delators once more came into life ; men of all ranks were dragged from every part of the empire to Pannonia, where some were sewed up in the skins of animals, others were exposed to wild beasts, others beaten to death with clubs, and the properties of all were confiscated. This had been the usual course of the preceding despotism, and the people in general, therefore, took little heed of it; but Maximin stretched his rapacious hands to the corporate funds of the cities of the empire, which were destined to the support or the amusement of the people; and he seized on the treasures of the temples, and stripped the public edifices of their ornaments. The spirit of disaffection, thus excited, was general, and even his sol- diers were wearied of his severity and cruelty. * It was now the practice to have bodies of archers from the East in the Roman service. c c 226 MAxiMiN. [a. d. 236. The whole empire was now, therefore, ripe for revolt; the rapacity of the procurator of Africa caused it to break out in that province, (237.) This officer, who was worthy of his master, had condemned two young men of rank to pay such sums as would have quite ruined tliem. In despair, they assembled the peasantry on their estates, and, having gained over part of the soldiers, they one night surprised the procurator, and slew him and those who defended him. Knowing that they had no safety but in a general revolt, they resolved to offer the empire to M. Antonius Gordianus, the governor of the province, an illustrious senator, of the venerable age of eighty years. They came to him as he was resting, after giving audience in the mornincr, and, fling- ing the purple of a standard over him, saluted him Augus- tus. Gordian declined the proffered dignity ; but, when he reflected that Maximin would never pardon a man who had been proclaimed emperor, he deemed it the safer course to run the hazard of the contest, and he consented to accept the empire, making his son his colleague. He then pro- ceeded to Carthage, whence he wrote to the senate and peo- ple, and his friends at Rome, notifying his elevation to the empire. The intelligence was received with the greatest joy at Rome. The two Gordians were declared Augusti, and Maximin, and his son, whom he had associated with him in the empire, and their friends, public enemies, and rewards were promised to those who would kill them ; but the decree was ordered to be kept secret till all the necessary prepara- tions should have been made. Soon after, it was given out that Maximin was slain. The edicts of the Gordians were then published, their images and letters were carried into the praetorian camp, and forthwith the people rose in fury, cast down and broke the images of Maximin, fell on and massacred his officers and the informers ; and many seized this pretext for getting rid of their creditors and their private enemies. Murder and pillage prevailed through the city. The senate, meantime, having advanced too far to recede, wrote a circular to all the governors of provinces, and ap- pointed twenty of their body to put Italy into a state of defence. Maximin was preparing to cross the Danube against the Sarmatians when he heard of what had taken place at Rome. His rage and fury passed all bounds. He menaced the whole of the senate with bonds or death, and promised their A. D. 237-238.] DEATH OF MAXlMIN. 227 properties, and those of the Africans, to his soldiers ; but, finding that they did not show all the alacrity he had expect- ed, he began to fear for his power. His spirits, however, soon rose, when tidings came that his rivals were no more : for Capellianiis, governor of Mauretania, being ordered by the Gordians to quit that province, marched against Car- thage at the head of a body of legionaries and Moors. The younger Gordian gave him battle, and was defeated and slain, and his father, on hearing the melancholy tidings, strangled himself Capellianus pillaged Carthage and the other towns, and exercised all the rights of a conqueror, (237.) When the fatal tidings reached Rome, the consternation was great ; but the senate, seeing they could not now re- cede, chose as emperors, in the place of the Gordians, M. Clodius Pupienus Maximus and D. Caelius Balbinus, the former to conduct the military, the latter the civil affairs of the state. To satisfy the people, a grandson of the elder Gordian, a boy of twelve years of age, was associated with them as a Caesar. The new emperors were elected about the beginning of July, and Pupienus forthwith left Rome to oppose Maximin. The remainder of the year was spent on both side^ in making preparations for the war, and in the following spring (238) Maximin put his troops in motion for Italy. He pa^s^dj^he Alps unopposed, but found the gates of Aquileia closed against him. His offers of pardon being rejected, he laid siege to the town : it was defended with the obstinacy of despair. Ill success augmented the innate ferocity of Maxi- min ; he put to death several of his officers; these executions irritated the soldiers, who were besides sufferincj all kinds of privations, and discontent became general. As Maximin was reposing one day at noon in his tent, a party of the Alban soldiers* approached it with the intention of killing him. They were joined by his guards, and, when he awoke and came forth with his son, they would not listen to him, but killed them both on the spot, and cut off their heads. Maximin's principal ministers shared his fate. His reign had lasted only three years. • See above, p. 208. 228 PUPIENUS, BALBINUS, GORDIAN. [a. D. 238. M. Clodius Pupicnus Maximus, D. Cmlius Balbinus, and M. Antonius Gordianus. A. u. 991—997. A. D. 233—244. The joy at Rome was extreme when the news of the death of Maximin arrived. Pupienus, who was at Ravenna, has- tened to Aquileia, and received the submission of the army. He distributed money to the legions, and then, sending them back to their usual quarters, returned to Rome with the praetorians and a part of the army of the Rhine, in which he could confide. He and his colleagues entered the city in a kind of triumph.' The administration of Pupienus and Balbinus was of the best kind; and the senate and people congratulated them- selves on the choice they had made. But the praetorians were far from being contented ; they felt as if robbed of their right of appointing an emperor; and tliey were an- noyed at the German troops being retained in the city, as arguing a distrust of themselves. Unfortunately, too, there prevailed a secret jealousy between the two emperors, and it is probable that concord would not long have subsisted be- tween them under any circumstances. The praetorians, having to no purpose sought a pretext for getting rid of the emperors, at length took advantage of the celebration of the Capitoline games, at which almost every one was present, and the emperors remained nearly alone in the palace. They proceeded thither in fury. Pupienus, when aware of their approach, proposed to send for the Germans ; but Balbinus, fearing that it was meant to employ them against himself, refused his consent. Meantime the prajtorians arrived, forced the entrance, seized the two aged emperors, tore their garments, treated them with every kind of indignity, and were dragging them to their camp, till, hearing that the Germans were coming to their aid, they killed them, and left their bodies lying in the street. They carried the young Gordian with them to their camp, where they proclaimed him emperor; and the senate, the people, and the provinces, readily acquiesced in his elevation. The youthful emperor was the object of general affection; the soldiers called him their child, the senate their son, the people their delight. He was of a lively and agreeable tem- per; and he was zealous in the acquisition of knowledge, in A. D. 238-244.] MURDER OF GORDIAN. 229 order that he might not be deceived by those about him. In the first years, however, of his reign, public affairs were in- differenily managed. His mother, who was not a Mamsea, allowed her eunuchs and frcedmcn to sell all the great offices of the state, (perhaps she shared in their gains,) and in con- sequence many improper appointments were made. But the marriage of the young emperor (241) brought about a thorough reformation. He espoused the daughter of Misi- theus, a man distinguished in the cultivation of letters, and he made his father-in-law his pr;ctorian prefect, and guided himself by his counsels. Misilheus, who was a man of virtue and talent as well as of learning, discharged the duties of his office in the ablest manner. A Persian war soon called the emperor to the East, (242.) Sapor, (Shnhpoor,) the son and successor of Artaxerxes, had invaded Mesopotamia, taken Nisibis, Carrha?, and other towns, and menaced Antioch. But the able conduct of Misitheus, when the emperor arrived in Syria, speedily as- sured victory to the Roman arms; the towns were all recov- ered, and the Persian monarch was obliged to repass the Tigris. Unfortunately for Gordian and the einpire, Misi- theus died in the following year, (243,) to the great regret of the whole army, by whom he was both beloved and feared. The office of pr.-Etorian prefect was giv^ to M. Julius Philippus, who is accused, though apparently wtthout reason, of having caused the death of his predecessor. Now, however, having in effect the command of the army, Philip aspired to the empire. He spoke disparagingly of the youth of Gurdian; lie contrived, by diverting the sup- plies, to cause the army to be in want, and then laid the blame on the emperor. At length, (244,) after a victory gained over the Persians on the banks of the Abora, he led the troops into a country where no provisions could be pro- cured ; a mutiny in consequence ensued, in which the em- peror was slain, and Philip was proclaimed in his place. Gordian was only nineteen years of age when he met his untimely f ite ; he had reigned five years and eight months. The soldiers raised him a tomb on the spot, and the senate placed him among the gods. CONTIN. 20 230 PHiLippus. [a. d. 244-249. M. Julius Philippus. A. u. 997—1002. A. D. 244—249. The adventurer who had now attained the imperial purple was an Arab by birth, and it is even pretended a Christian in religion. Pie probably entered the Roman service in his youth, and gradually rose to rank in the army. Being anxious to proceed to Rome, Philip lost no time in concluding a treaty with Sapor. He then, after a short stay at Antioch, set out for Italy. At Rome, he used every means to conciliate the senators by liberality and kindness; and he never mentioned the late emperor but in terms of respect. To gain the affections of the people, he formed a reservoir to supply with water the part of the city beyond the Tiber. In the fifth year of his reign, (248,) Rome having then attained her one thousandth year, Philip, in conjunction with his son, now associated with him in the empire, cele- brated with great magnificence the secular games. These had been already solemnized by Augustus, by Claudius, by Domitian, and Severus, and Rome now witnessed them for the last time. Philip would appear to have acted unwisely in committing extensive commands to his own relations ; for, in Syria, where his brother Priscus, and in Moesia, where his father- in-law, Severianus, commanded, rival emperors were pro- claimed. The Syrian rebel was named Jotapianus ; the Moesian was a centurion, named P. Carvilius Marinus. Philip, it is said, in alarm, called on the senate to support him, or to accept his resignation, (249 ;) but while the other senators maintained silence, Decius, a man of rank and talent, reassured him, speaking slightingly of the rebels, and asserting that they could not stand against him. His pre- diction proved correct ; for they both were shortly after slain. Philip then obliged Decius, much, it is said, against his inclination, to take the command of the Mojsian and Pannonian legions. But when Decius reached the army, the soldiers insisted on investing him with the purple. He wrote to the emperor, assuring him of his fidelity ; but Philip would not trust to his declarations, and, leaving his son at Rome with a part of the praetorians, he put himself at the head of his troops to chastise him. The armies met near A. D. 249-251.] GOTHIC WAR. 231 Verona; Philip was defeated and slain, and when the news reached Rome, the prajtorians slew his son and proclaimed Decius. C. Mcssiiis Quintus Trajanus Decius. A. u. 1003—1004. A.D. 249—251. Decius was born at Bubalia, a town near Sirmium, in Pannonia. He was either forty-eight or fifty-eight years of age, it is uncertain which, when he was proclaimed empe- ror ; and, from the imperfect accounts which we have of his reign, he would seem to have been a man of considerable ability. His reign was, however, brief and unquiet. It had hardly commenced, when he had to go in person to quell an insurrection in Gaul, and all the rest of it was occupied in war with the Goths. This people, whose original seats seem to have been the Scandinavian peninsula, had at an early period crossed the Baltic, and settled on its southern coast. They had gradu- ally advanced southwards, and they now had reached the Euxine. In the time of Alexander Severus, they h^ made inroads into Dacia; and in that of Philip, they ravaged^^oth that province and Moesia. In the first year of Decius, (250,) the Gothic king Cniva passed the Danube at the head of 70,000 warriors, and laid siege to the town of Eustesium, (Novi ;) being repelled by the Roman general Gallus, he advanced against Nicopolis, whence he was driven by the emperor or his son, (it is uncertain which,) with a loss of 80,000 men. Undismayed by his reverses, he crossed Mount HcEmus, in the hope of surprising Philippopolis; Decius fol- lowed him, but his camp at Beriea was surprised by the Goths, and his troops were cut to pieces. Philippopolis stood a siege of some duration; but it was taken, and the greater part of its inhabitants were massacred. The Goths now spread their ravages into Macedonia, the governor of which, Philip's brother Priscus, assumed the purple under their protection. It seems most probable that it was the younger Decius who met with these reverses, for the emperor must have been at Rome, as we find that, on his leaving it, (251,) to direct the Gothic war, a person named Julius Valens was declared emperor, to the great joy of the people. He was, 232 CALLUS. [a. d. 252. however, killed shortly after. Decius, who was worthy of empire, was, meantime, amidst the cares of war, engaged in the visionary project of restoring the long-departed public virtue which had once ennobled Rome. With this view he proposed to revive the office of censor; and, the choice of the person being left to the senate, they unanimously voted it (Oct. 27) to P. Licinius Valerianus, as being the man most worthy of it. The decree was transmitted to the em- peror, who was in Thrace; he read it aloud in a large assembly, and exhorted Valerian, who was present, to accept the proffered dignity. Valerian would fain excuse himself. We know not if the emperor was satisfied with his excuses, but, from the turn which public affairs took, the censorship was never exercised. Decius was successful against the Goths, who offered to surrender their booty and prisoners if allowed to re|)ass the Danube ; but the emperor, who was resolved to strike such a blow as would daunt the barbarians, and make them henceforth respect the Roman arms, refused all terms. The Goths, therefore, gave him battle in a place where a part of their front was covered by a morass. The younger Decius was slain by an arrow in the beginning of the action ; but the emperor, crying out that the loss of one soldier did not signify, led on his troops. In the attempt to cross the morass, they were pierced by the arrows of the enemy, or swallowed up in the mire, and the body of the emperor was never found. C. Vihius Trehonianus Gallus. A. u. 1005— lOOG. A.D. 252—253. The senate, it is said, but more probably the army, con- ferred the vacant purple on Gallus, the governor of Moesia. He adopted Hostiliaiius, the remaining son* of Decius, and gave him the title of Augustus; but this youth dying soon after of the plague, Gallus associated his own son Volusia- nus in the empire. Unable, probably, to resist the victorious Goths, Gallus agreed that they should depart with their booty and prisoners, and even consented to pay them annu- ally a large sum of gold. He then set out for Rome, where he remained for the rest of his reign, ruling with great mild- ness and equity. A.D. 253.] JEMILIAN, hc. 233 The Goths and their allies, heedless of treaties, again (253) poured over the Danube; but iEmilianus, the gov- ernor of McEsia, gave tlietn a signal defeat, and his victo- rious troops forthwith proclaimed him emperor. Without a moment's delay, he put them in motion for Rome. Gallus advanced to engage him ; the troops came in sight of each other at Interamna, {Terni,) and those of Gallus, seeing themselves the weaker, and gained by the promises of JEmil- ianus, murdered the emperor and his son, and passed over to the side of the rebel. C. Julius j^milianus. .^milianus is said to have been a Moor by birth. Of his previous history nothing is known. He wrote to the senate, to say that they should have the whole civil administration, and that he would be no more than their general; and that assembly readily acquiesced in his elevation. \ But Valerian had been sent by Gallus to fetch tnelegions of Gaul and Germany to his aid ; and these troops, a^~-SQon as they heard of his death, proclaimed their general emperor. He led them into Italy; and the troops of vEmilianus, which were encamped at Spoleto, fearing the strength and number of the advancing army, murdered their emperor to obviate a conflict. The reign of ^milianus had not lasted four months. P. Licinius Valcrianus and P. Licinius Gallienus. A. u. 1006—1013. A. D. 253—260. Valerian is said to have been sixty years of age when thus raised to the empire. Feeling the infirmities of age, or in imitation of the practice of so many preceding emperors, he associated with him his son Gallienus, a young man devoid neither of courage nor ability, but immoderately addicted to pleasure. Had the Roman empire been in the condition in which it was left by Augustus, Valerian might have emulated that emperor, and have displayed his virtues and beneficence in promoting the happiness of his subjects. But a great change 20* DD 234 VALERIAN AND GALLIENUS. [a. D. 253. had taken place in the condition of Rome ; her legions no longer inspired tlieir ancient terror ; her northern and east- ern provinces were exposed to the ravages of those who had formerly cowered before her eagles. Valerian could there- fore only exhibit his wisdom in the selection of his generals ; and it is to be observed that his choice never fell on an un- worthy subject. The enemies by whom the empire was assailed at this period, were the Franks, the Alemans, the Goths, and the Persians. As the scanty notices o£ these times do not enable us to arrange events chronologically, we will give a separate view of the wars, with each of these peoples, during the reigns of Valerian and his son. We have already observed the proneness of the German tribes to form confederations. The Chaucans, Cheruscans, Chattans, and some adjoining states, had lately, it would seem, entered into one of these political unions, under the name of Franks, /. c. Freemen. Their strength and number now causing uneasiness for Gaul, the young emperor, Gallie- nus, was sent to that country; but the chief military com- mand was conferred on Postumius, a man of considerable ability. The arms of the legions were successful in various encounters ; but they were finally unable to prevent the pas- sage of an army of the Franks through Gaul, whence, sur- mounting the barrier of the Pyrenees, they poured down into the now unwarlike Spain. The rich city of Tarragona was taken and sacked ; the whole country was devastated, and the Franks, then seizing the vessels which they found in the ports, embarked to ravage Africa. We know not what was their ultimate fate ; they were probably, however, destroyed in detail by the Roman troops and the provincials. A portion of the great Suevian confederation had formed a new combination, under the name of Alemans, i. c. All- men, on account of the variety of tribes which composed it. Like the Suevians, their forces were chiefly composed of cavalry, with active footmen mingled with them ; * and they always proved a formidable foe. While Gallienus was in Gaul, a body of them entered Italy, penetrated as far as Ra- venna, and their advanced troops came nearly within sight of Rome. The senate drew out the praetorian guards, and added to them a portion of the populace to oppose them ; and-the barbarians, finding themselves greatly outnumbered, • The Hamippi of the Greeks. See Hist, of Greece, p. 219. A. D. 258-262.] GOTHIC INVASIONS. 235 hastened to get beyond the Danube with their plunder. Gallieiius, it is said, was so much alarmed at the spirit and energy shown by the senate on this occasion, that he issued an edict interdicting all military employments to the sena- tors, and even prohibiting their access to the camps of the legions. It is added that the luxurious nobles viewed this indignity as a favor rather than an insult. Gallienus is also said to have overcome a large army of Alemans in the vicinity of Milan.* He afterwards espoused Pipa, daughter of the king of the Marcomans, (one of the confederates,) to whom he gave a territory in Pannonia, as a means of averting the hostilities of the barbarians. The Goths were now masters of the northern coast of the Euxine; and, finding their attacks on the northern provinces generally repelled with vigor, they resolved to direct their efforts against more unwarlike districts. Collecting a quan- tity of the vessels used for navigating the Euxine, they em- barked (253) and crossed that sea. They made their first attempt on the frontier town of Pityus, which was long ably defended against them ; but they at length succeeded in reducing it. They thence sailed to the wealthy city 61 Trebizond, {Trapczus ;) and, though it was defended by a numerous garrison, they effected an entrance during the night. The cowardly garrison fled without making any re- sistance ; the inhabitants were massacred in great numbers; the booty and captives were immense, and the victors, having ravaged the province of Pontus, embarl^ed there on board of the ships which they found in the harbors, and returned to their settlement in the Tauric Chersonese. The next expedition of the Goths was directed to the Bosporus, (261.) They took and plundered Chalcedon and Nicomedia, Nica^a, Apamaja, Prusa, and other cities of Bi- thynia. The accidental swelling of the little river Rhynda- cus saved the town of Cyzicus from pillage. The third expedition of the Goths was on a larger scale, (262.) Their fleet consisted of five hundred vessels of all sizes. They sailed along the Bosporus and Propontis; took and plundered Cyzicus; passed the Hellespont, and entered the .iEgean. They directed their course to the Piraseus; Athens could offer no resistance; the Goths ravaged Greece with impunity, and advanced to the shores of the Adriatic. Gallienus roused himself from his pleasures, and appeared in * Zonaras, xii. He saya the Alemans were 300,000, the Romans only 10,000 strong. 236 VALERIAN AND GALLIENUS. [a.D. 259-260. arms. A Herulan chief with his men was induced to enter the Roman service ; the Goths, weakened by this defection, broke up; a part forced their way to the Danube over land; the rest embarked, and, pillaging and burning the temple of Diana at Ephesus on their way, returned to the Euxine. Sapor, of Persia, had been long engaged in war with Chosroes, king of Armenia, a prince of the house of Arsa- ces. Unable to reduce the brave Armenian, he caused him to be assassinated ; and Armenia then received the Persian yoke. Elated with his success, Sapor invaded the Roman ter- ritory, took Nisibis and Carrhse, and spread his ravages over Mesopotamia. Valerian, alarmed for the safety of the East- ern provinces, proceeded thither in person, (259.) The events of the war which ensued have not reached us. All that we know with certainty is, that Valerian was finally de- feated and made a captive, (260.) The circumstances of his capture were somewhat similar to those of the taking of Crassus. His army, by ignorance or treachery, got into a position where neither . discipline nor courage could avail, being without supplies and suffering from disease. The sol- diers clamored for a capitulation ; Sapor detained the depu- ties that were sent to him, and led his troops up to the camp ; and Valerian was obliged to consent to a conference, at which he was made a prisoner. Valerian ended his days a captive in Persia. We are told that Sapor treated him with every kind of indignity ; that he led him about in chains clad in his imperial purple; that, vyhen the haughty Persian would mount his horse, the cap- tive emperor was made to go on his hands and knees to serve as his horse-block; and that, when death at length released him from his sufferings, his skin was stripped off, tanned, and stuffed, and placed in one of the most celebrated temples of Persia. The sufferings of Valerian are, however, probably of the same kind with the tortures of Regulus and the iron cage of Bajazet — gross exaggerations of some degree of ill treatment or of necessary precaution. P. Licinius Gallienus. A. u. 1013—1021. A. D. 260—268. The captivity of Valerian was lamented by all but his son, who felt himself relieved by it from the restraint imposed on A.D. 260.] THE THIRTY TYRANTS. 237 him by his father's virtue. lie even affected to act the phi- losoplier on the occasion, saying, in imitation of Xenophon, " I knew that my father was mortal ; " but he never made any attempt to procure his liberty, and he abandoned him- self witliout restraint to sensual indulgence. The reign of Gallienus is termed the Time of the Thirty Tyrants. This word seems to have recovered its ancient Grecian sense, and to have merely signified prince, or rather usurper, that is, one who claims the supreme power already held by another. The tyrants of this time were, in general, men of excellent character, who had been placed in the com- mand of armies by Valerian, and were invested with the pur- ple by their soldiers, often against their will. The number of these usurpers, who rose and fell in succession, did not exceed eighteen or nineteen; but some very fanciful analogy led to a comparison of them with the Thirty of Athens, and in the Augustan History an effort is made, by including women and children, to raise them to that number. The East, Illyricum, Gaul, Greece, and Egypt, were the places in wliich these tyrants appeared. We will notice them in order. After the defeat of Valerian, Sapor conferred the title of emperor on a person named Cyriades, the son of a citizen of Antiocli. This vassal forthwith conducted the Persian troops to the pillage of his native city ; and so rapid and so secret was their march, that they surprised the Antiochenes while engaged at the theatre. The massacre and devasta- tion usual in the East ensued. The Persian monarch then poured his troops into Cilicia, took and plundered Tarsus and other towns ; then, crossing Mount Taurus, he laid siege to Ca3sarea in Cappadocia, a city with 400,000 inhabitants. It was stoutly defended for some time ; but treachery at length delivered it into the hands of the Persians, and massacre and pillage followed. Sapor now spread his ravages on all sides; but the Roman troops, having rallied under the command of Ser. Anicius Ballista, who had been pra3torian prefect, checked his career, and, as he was retiring towards his own states, he found himself assailed by an unexpected enemy. Soon after the defeat and capture of Valerian, a train of camels laden with presents entered the camp of Sapor. They were accompanied by a letter from Odenatus, a wealthy citizen of Palmyra, (the ancient Tadmor,) contain- ing an assurance that he had never acted against the Per- sians. Sapor, enraged at such insolence, (as he deemed it,) 238 GALLIENUS. [a. D. 261-264. tore the letter, flung the gifts into the river, and declared that he would exterminate the insolent writer and his family, unless he came before his throne with his hands bound behind his back. Odenatus at once resolved to join the Romans; he collected a force chiefly composed of the Bedoweens, or Arabs of the Desert, over whom he had great influence. He hovered about the Persian army, and, attacking it at the passage of the Euphrates, carried off mucii treasure, and some of the women of the Great King, who was forced to seek safety in a precipitate retreat. Odenatus made himself master of all Mesopotamia; and he even passed the Tigris, and made an attempt on Ctesiplion, (201.) Gallienus gave him the title of his general of the East, and Odenatus him- self took soon after that of king of Palmyra. The Roman troops in the East, meantime, being resolved not to submit to Gallienus, were deliberating on whom they would bestow the purple. Acting under the advice of Bal- lista, they fixed on the praetorian prefect, M. Fulvius Macria- nus, a man of great military talents, and, what was perhaps of nriore importance in their eyes, extremely wealthy. Macria- nus conferred the office of prstorian prefect on Ballista, and, leaving with him his younger son and a part of the army to defend the East, he put himself at the head of 45,000 men, and, taking with him his elder son, set out for Europe, (^OS.) On the borders of Illyricum he was encountered by M'. Acil- ius Aureolus, the governor (or, as some say, the tyrant) of that province; and in the battle which ensued, himself and his son were slain, and his troops surrendered. After the death of Macrianus, Ballista assumed the purple; but he was slain by order of Odenatus, whom Gallienus, (2G4,) with the full consent of the senate and people of Rome, had made his associate in the empire, giving him the titles of Caesar, Augustus, and all the other tokens of sovereignty. Tib. Cestius yEmilianus, who commanded in Egypt, as- sumed the purple in that province, (^G'i,) in consequence, it is said, of a sedition in the most turbulent city of Alexan- dria; but he was defeated the following year, taken prisoner, and sent to Gallienus, who caused him to be strangled. It was in Gaul that the usurpers had most success. As soon as Gallienus left that country, (2G0,) the general M. Cassius Latienus Postumus was proclaimed emperor; and his authority appears to have been acknowledged in both Spain and Britain. He is described as a man of most noble and upright character; he administered justice impartially, and A. D. 267.] THE THIRTY TYRANTS. 239 he defended the frontier acjainst the Germans with valor and success. Possessed of the affections of the people, he easily maintained himself against all the efforts of Gallienus; but he was slain at last, (2G7,) in a mutiny of his own soldiers, to wlioni he had refused the plunder of the city of Mentz, in which a rival emperor had appeared. Postunius had associ- ated with himself in the empire Victorinus, the son of a lady named Aurelia Victoria, who was called the Mother of the Camp, and who had such influence with the troops, (we know not how acquired, but probably by her wealth,) as to be able to give the purple to whom she pleased. Victorinus being slain by a man whose wife he had violated, a simple armorer, named Marius, wore the purple for two days, at the end of which he was murdered ; and Victoria then caused a senator named P. Pivesus Tetricus to be proclaimed em- peror, who maintained his power for some years. At the time when Macrianus claimed the empire, P. Vale- rius Valens, the governor of Greece, finding that that usurper, who was resolved on his destruction, had sent L. Calpurnius Piso against him, assumed the purple in his own defence. Piso, being forced to retire into Thessaly, caused himself to be proclaimed emperor there ; but few joined him, and he was slain by a party of soldiers sent against him by Valens, who was himself shortly after put to death by his own troops. Both Valens and Piso were men of high character ; especially the latter, to whom the senate decreed divine honors, and respecting whom Valens himself said that " he would not be able to account to the gods below, for having ordered Piso, though his enemy, to be slain ; a man whose like the Roman republic did not then possess." C. Annius Trebellianus declared himself independent in Isauria, and T. Cornelius Celsus was proclaimed emperor in Africa; but both speedily perished, (265.) Among the ca- lamities of this reiirn was an insurrection of the slaves in Sicily, similar to those in the time of the republic. While his empire was thus torn asunder, Gallienus thought only of indulgence, and the loss of a province only gave him occasion for a joke. When Egypt revolted, " Well," said he, "cannot we do without Egyptian linen?" So, when Gaul was lost, he asked if the republic could not be secure without cloaks from Arras. He was content to retain Italy, satisfied with a nominal sovereignty over the rest of the em- pire ; and, whenever this seat of dominion was menaced, he exhibited in its defence the vigor and personal courage which he really possessed. 240 GALLIENUS. [a. d. 268. Gaul and Illyricum were the quarters from which Italy had most to apprehend : Gallienus therefore headed his troops against Postumus; and, when D. LiEJius Ingenuus revolted, in Pannonia, he marched against him, defeated and slew him, and made the most cruel use of his victory, to deter others, (260.) Q.. Nonius Regillianus, who afterwards revolted in the same country, was slain by his own soldiers, (203;) but, when Aureolus was induced to assume the purple, (205^,) the Illyrian legions advanced, and made themselves masters of Milan. Gallienus, shaking off sloth, quickly appeared at the head of his troops. The hostile armies encountered on the banks of the Adda, and Aureolus was defeated, wounded, and forced to shut himself up in Milan. During the siege, a con- spiracy was formed against the emperor, by some of the prin- cipal officers of his army ; and one night, as he was sitting at table, a report was spread that Aureolus had made a sally. Gallienus instantly threw himself on horseback, to hasten to the point of danger, and, in the dark, he received a mortal wound from an unknown hand. CHAPTER VL* CLAUDIUS, AURELIAN, TACITUS, PROBUS, CARUS, CARINUS, AND NUMERIAN. A. u. 1021—1038. A. D. 2GS— 285. CLAUDIUS. INVASIONS OF THE GOTHS. AURELIAN. ALE- MANIC WAR. WAR AGAINST ZENOBIA. TETRICUS. DEATH OF AURELIAN. TACITUS. HIS DEATH. PRO- BUS. Ills MILITARY SUCCESSES. HIS DEATH. CARUS. PERSIAN WAR. HIS DEATH. DEATH OF NUMERIAN. ELECTION OP DIOCLETIAN. BATTLE OF MARCUS. We now enter on a series of emperors of a new order. Born nearly all in humble stations, and natives of the province of Illyricum, they rose, by merit, through the gradations of military service, attained the empire, in general, without crime, maintained its dignity, and checked or punished the inroads * Authorities : Zosimus, the Augustan History, and Epitomators. A. D. 268.] CHARACTER OF CLAUDIUS. 241 of the barbarians. This series commences with the death of Gallienus, and terminates with that of Licinius, embra- cing a period of somewhat more than half a century, and marked, as we shall find, by most important changes in the Roman empire. M. Aurelius Claudius. A. u. 1021—1023. A. D. 208—270. The murmurs of the soldiers, on the death of Gallienus, were easily stilled by the promise of a donative of twenty pieces of gold a man. To justify themselves in the eyes of the world, the conspirators resolved to bestow the empire on one who should form an advantageous contrast to its late unworthy possessor; and they fixed on M. Aurelius Claudius, who commanded a division of the army at Pavia. The sol- diers, the senate, and the people, alike approved their choice; and Claudius assumed the purple with universal approbation. This excellent man, in whose praise writers of all parties are agreed, was a native of Illyricum, born, apparently, in humble circumstances. His merit raised him through the inferior gradations of tlie army; he attracted the notice of the emperor Decius, and the discerning Valerian made him general * of the Illyrian frontier, with an 'assurance of the consulate. Aureolus was soon obliged to surrender, and he was put to death by the soldiers. An army of Alemans, coming per- haps to his aid, was then, it is said, defeated by Claudius, near Verona. After his victory, the emperor proceeded to Rome, where, during the remainder of the year, he devoted his time and thoughts to the reformation of abuses in the state. Among other just and prudent regulations, he directed that the properties confiscated by Gallienus should be restored to their original owners A woman, it is said, came, on this occasion, to the emperor, and claimed her land, which, she said, had been given to Claudius, the commander of the cav- alry. This ofiicer was the emperor himself; and he replied, that the emperor Claudius must restore what he took when he was a private man, and less bound to obey the laws.t The following year, (269,) the Goths and their allies em- * The term now in use for general was dux, whence our duke. \ Zonaras, p. 239. CONTIN. 21 E E 242 CLAUDIUS. [a. d. 269-270 barked, we are told, to the number of 320,000 warriors, with their wives, children, and slaves, in two, or, as some say, six thousand vessels, and directed their course to the Bosporus. In passing that narrow channel, the number of their vessels and the rapidity of the current caused them to suffer consider- able loss. Their attempts on Byzantium and Cyzicus having failed, they proceeded along the northern coast of the ^gean, and laid siege to the cities of Cassandria and Thessalonica. While thus engaged, they learned that the emperor was on his march to oppose them ; and, breaking up, they advanced into the interior, wasting and plundering the country on their way. Near the town of Naissus, in Dardania, they encoun- tered the Roman legions. The battle was long and bloody, and the Romans were, at one time, on the verge of defeat; but the skill of Claudius turned the beam, and the Goths were finally routed, with a loss of 50,000 men. During the remainder of the year, numerous desultory actions occurred, in which the Goths sustained great losses; and, being finally hemmed in on all sides by the Roman troops, they were forced to seek refuge in Mount Hcemus, and pass the winter amidst its snows. Famine and pestilence alike preyed on them ; and when, on the return of spring, (270,) tlie emperor took the field against them, they were obliged to surrender at discre- tion. A portion of their youth were enrolled in the imperial troops ; vast numbers both of men and women were reduced to slavery; on some, lands were bestowed in the provinces; few returned to their seats on the Euxine. The pestilence which had afflicted the Goths proved also fatal to the emperor. lie was attacked and carried off by it at Sirmium, in the 57th year of his age. In the presence of his principal officers, he named, it is said, Aurclian, one of his generals, as the fittest person to succeed him ; but his brother Quintilius, when he heard of his death, assumed the purple at Aquileia, and was acknowledged by the senate. Hearing, however, that Aurelian was on his march against him, he gave up all hopes of success, and, opening his veins, died, after a reign of seventeen days. L. Domitius Aurelianus. A. u. 1023—1028. A. D. 270—275. Aurelian, like his able predecessor, was a man of humble birth. His father is said to have been a small farmer, and A. D. 270.] AUREHAN. 243 his mother a priestess of the Sun, in a village near Sirmium. lie entered the army as a common soldier, and rose through the successive gradations of the service to the rank of gen- eral of a frontier. He was adopted in the presence of Va- lerian, (some said at his request,) by Ulpius Crinitus, a sena- tor of the same family with the emperor Trajan, who gave him his daughter in marriaoe, and Valerian bestowed on him the office of consul. In the Gothic war, Claudius had committed to him the command of the cavalry. Immediately on his election, Aurelian hastened to Rome, whence he was speedily recalled to Pannonia by the intelli- gence of an irruption of the Goths. A great battle was fought, which was terminated by night without any decisive advantage on either side. Next day the Goths retired over the river, and sent proposals of peace, which was cheerfully accorded ; and for many years no hostilities of any account occurred between the Goths and Romans. But while Aure- lian was thus occupied in Pannonia, the Alemans, with a force of 40,000 horse and 80,000 foot, had passed the Alps and spread their ravages to the Po. Instead of following them into Italy, Aurelian, learning that they were on their return home with their booty, marched along the Danube to intercept their retreat, and, attacking them unawares, he reduced them to such straits that they sent to sue for peace. The emperor received the envoys at the head of his legions, surrounded by his principal officers. After a silence of some moments, they spoke by their interpreter, saying that it was the desire of peace, and not the fear of war, that had brought them thither. They spoke of the uncertainty of war, and enlarged on the number of their forces. As a condition of peace, they required the usual presents, and the same annual payments in silver and gold that they had had before the war. Aurelian replied in a long speech, the sum of which was that nothing short of unconditional surrender would be accepted. The envoys, returning to their countrymen, reported the ill success of their embassy; and forthwith the army turned back and reentered Italy. Aurelian followed, and came up with them at Placentia. The Alemans, who had stationed themselves in the woods, fell suddenly on the legions in the dusk of the evening; and nothing but the firmness and skill of the emperor saved the Romans from a total overthrow. A second battle was fought near Fano in Umbria, on the spot where Hannibal's brother Hasdrubal was defeated and slain, five hundred years before. The Alemans were totally 244 AURELIAN. [a. D. 271. routed, and a concluding victory at Pavia delivered Italy from tiieir ravages. Aurelian pursued the barbarians beyond the Alps, and then turned to Pannonia, which the Vandals had invaded. He engaged and defeated them, (271.) They sent to sue for peace, and he referred the matter to his soldiers, who loudly expressed their desire for an accommo- dation. The Vandals gave the cliildren of their two kings and of their principal nobles for hostages, and Aurelian took two thousand of them into his service. There had been some seditions at Rome during the time of the Alemanic war, and Aurelian, on his return to the capital, acted witli great severity, and even cruelty, in pun- ishing those engaged in them. He is accused of having put to death senators of high rank, on the slightest evidence, and for the most trifling offences. Aware, too, that neither Alps nor Apennines could now check the barbarians, he resolved to put Rome into a posture to stand a siege ; and he com- menced the erection of massive walls around it, which, when completed by his successors, formed a circuit of twen- ty-one miles, and yielded a striking proof of the declining strength of the empire. Aurelian, victorious against the barbarians, had still two rivals to subdue before he could be regarded as perfect mas- ter of the empire. Tetricus was acknowledged in Gaul, Spain, and Britain; Zenobia, the widow of Odenatus, ruled the East. It is uncertain against which he first turned his arms ; but, as the greater number of writers give the priority to the Syrian war, we will here follow their example. Odenatus and his eldest son, Herod, were treacherously slain by his nephew Majonius; but Zenobia, the widow of the murdered prince, speedily punished the traitor, and then held the government in the name of her remaining sons. This extraordinary woman claimed a descent from the Ptole- mies of Egypt. In her person she displayed the beauty of the East, being of a clear dark complexion, with pearly white teeth and brilliant black eyes. Her voice was strong and harmonious; she spoke the Greek, Syrian, and Egyptian languages, and understood the Latin. She was fond of study, but at the same lime she loved vigorous exercises ; and she accompanied her husband to the chase of the lion, the panther, and the other wild beasts of the wood and desert, and by her counsels and her vigor of mind, she greatly contributed to his success in war. To these manly qualities was united a chastity rarely to be found in the East. View- A. D. 271.] ZENOBIA. 245 ing the union of the sexes as the appointed means of con- tinuing the species, Zenobia would adtnit the embraces of her husband only in order to have offspring. She was tem- perate and sober, yet, when needful, she could quaff wine with her generals, and even vanquish in the cotnbats of the table the wine-lovinjj Persians and Armenians. As a sove- reign, Zenobia was severe or clement, as the occasion re- quired ; she was frugal of her treasure beyond what was ordinary with a woman, but when her affairs called for lib- erality, no one dispensed them more freely. After the death of Odenatus, Zenobia styled her three sons Augusti ; but she held the government in her own hands : she bore the title of Queen of the East, wore royal robes and the diadem, caused herself to be adored in the Oriental fashion, and put the years of her reign on her coins. She defeated an army sent against her by Gallienus; she made herself mistress of Egypt, and her rule extended northwards as far as the confines of Bithynia. Aurelian, on passing over to Asia, reduced to order the province of Bithynia. The city of Tyana in Cappadocia resisted him ; but the treachery of one of its inhabitants put it into his hands. lie pardoned the people, and he aban- doned the traitor to the just indignation of the soldiers. On the banks of the Orontes, he encountered the troops of the Q.ueen of the East. A cavalry action ensued, and, the Pal- myrenians being greatly superior in that arm, Aurelian em- ployed the stratagem of making his cavalry feign a flight, and then turn and attack the pursuing enemies, when wea- ried and exhausted with the weight of their heavy armor. The defeated Palmyrenians retired to Antioch, which they quitted in the night, and next day it opened its gates to Au- relian. He advanced then, with little opposition, to Emesa, where he found the Palmyrenian army, 70,000 strong, en- camped in the plain before the city. Zenobia herself was present, but the command was intrusted to her general, Zabdas. In the engagement, the Roman horse, unable to withstand the ponderous charge of the steel-clad Palmyre- nians, turned and fled. While the Palmyrenian cavalry was engaged in the pursuit, their light infantry, being left un- protected, offered little resistance to the legions, and a total rout ensued. Zenobia, seeinor the battle lost, and knowing that the people of Emesa favored the Romans, abandoned that city, and retired and shut herself up in Palmyra, her capital. 21 • 246 AURELIAN. [a.d. 272. The city of Tadmor, or Palmyra, as it was named by the Greeks, seems to have been, from the earliest times, a place of importance in the trade between the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea, being situated in an oasis of the desert, abounding in herbage, trees, and springs, and lying within sixty miles of the Euphrates, and somewhat more than three times that distance of the coast of Syria. Solomon, king of Israel, had made himself master of this important post, and fortified it. Its advantages being the gift of nature, and not of man, it continued to flourish under all the surrounding vicissitudes of empire. In the time of Trajan, it became a Roman colony, and it was adorned with those stately pub- lic edifices whose ruins command the admiration of i^odern Europe. In their march over the desert, the Roman troops were harassed by the attacks of the Bedovveen Arabs. They found the city of Palmyra strongly fortified, and abundantly supplied with the rneans of defence. When the siege had lasted for some time, Aurelian wrote, offering advantageous terms to the queen and the people ; but, fully convinced that famine would soon prey on the Roman army, and that the Persians and Arabs would hasten to her relief, Zenobia returned a haughty and insulting reply. The expected suc- cors, however, did not arrive ; convoys of provisions entered the Roman camp ; and Probus, whom Aurelian had de- tached for the reduction of Egypt, having accomplished his commission, brought his troops to join the main army. Want began to be felt within the walls of Palmyra; and Ze- nobia, finding that the city must surrender, resolved to fly to the Persians, and seek by their aid to continue the war. Mounting one of her fleetest dromedaries, she left the city, and had reached the Euphrates, and even entered the boat which was to convey her across, when the party of light horse sent in pursuit, came up and seized her. When brought before the emperor, and demanded why she had dared to insult the etnperors of Rome, she replied, that she regarded him as such, as he had conquered ; but that sluj never could esteem Gallienus, Aureolus, and such persons, to be emperors. This prudent answer won her favor, and Aurelian treated her with respect. The city soon surren- dered, and the emperor led his army back to Emesa, where he set up his tribunal, and had Zenobia and her ministers and friends brought to trial. The soldiers were clamorous for the death of the queen, but the emperor was resolved to A. D. 272.] TETRICUS. 247 reserve her to rrrnce his triumph; and it is added, tliat she belied the gre:itncss of her cli;iracter by weakly throwiiicr all the blame on her ministers. Of these, several were executed, among whom was the celebrated Longinus, the queen's secretary. He died willi the etjuanimity of a philosopher, comforting his companions in misfortune. Aurelian had passed the Bosporus on his return to Rome, when intelligence reached him that the Palmyrenians had risen on and massacred the small garrison he had left in their city. He instantly retraced his steps, arrived at Anti- och before it was known that he had set out, hastened to Palmyra, took the city, and massacred men, women, and children, citizens and peasants, without distinction. As he was on his way back to Europe, news came that Egypt had revolted, and made a wealthy merchant, named Firmus, em- peror, and th;it the export of corn to Rome had been stopped. Tlie indefatigable Aurelian soon appeared on the banks of the Nile, defeated the usurper, and took and put him to death. The overthrow of Tetricus (whether it preceded or fol- lowed these events) left Aurelian without a rival. Tetricus, it is said, was so wearied with the state of thraldom in which he was held by his mutinous troops, that he secretly wrote to Aurelian to come to his deliverance. When the emperor entered Gaul, Tetricus found it necessary to affect the alac- rity of one determined to conquer or die; but, when the ar- mies encountered on the plains of Chalons, he betrayed his troops, and deserted in the very commencement of the bat- tle. His legions fought, notwithstanding, with desperation, and perished nearly to a man. Victorious over all his rivals, and all the enemies of Rome, Aurelian celebrated a triumph with unusual magnifi- cence. Wild beasts of various kinds, troops of gladiators, and bauds of captives of many nations, opened the proces- sion. Tetricus and his son walked, clad in the Gallic habit; Zenobia also moved on foot, covered with jewels and bound with golden chains, which were borne up by slaves. The splendid cars of Odenatus and Zenobia, and one the gift of the Persian king to the emperor, preceded the chariot drawn by four stags, once the car of a Gothic king, in which Au- relian himself rode. The senate, the people, the army, horse and foot, succeeded ; and it was late in the day when the monarch reached the Capitol. The view of a Roman senator led in triumph, in the per- 248 AURELIAN. [a. d. 275. son of Tetricus, (an act of which there was no example,) cast a gloom over the minds of the senators. The insult, if intended for such, ended, however, with the procession. Aurelian made him governor of the southern part of Italy, and honored him with his friendship. He also bestowed on the Palmyrenian queen an estate at Tibur, where she lived many years, and her daughters matched into some of the noblest Roman families. The improvement of the city by useful public works, the establishment of daily distributions of bread and pork to the people, and the burning of all accounts of moneys due to the treasury, were measures calculated to gain Aurelian the popular favor. But a reformation of the coinage became the cause or pretext of an insurrection, the quelling of which cost him the lives of seven thousand of his veteran soldiers. Enveloped as the whole affair is in obscurity, the senators must have been implicated in it; for Aurelian's vengeance fell heavily on the whole body of the nobility. Numbers of them were cast into prison, and several were executed. Aurelian quitted Rome once more for the East, in order to carry on war against the Persians. On the road in Thrace, having detected his private secretary, Mnestheus, in some act of extortion, he menaced him with his anger. Aware that he never threatened in vain, Mnestheus saw that himself or the emperor must die : he, therefore, imitating Aurelian's writing, drew up a list containing his own name and those of the principal officers of the army as marked out for death. He showed this bloody list to those who were named in it, advising them to anticipate the emperor's cru- elty. Without further inquiry, they resolved on his murder, and, falling on him between Byzantium and Heraclea, they despatched him with their swords. M. Claudius Tacitus. A. u. 1028—1029. A. D. 275—276. After the death of the emperor Aurelian, a scene without example presented itself — an amicable strife between the senate and the army, each wishing the other to appoint an emperor, and the empire without a head and witliout a tu- nmlt for the greater part of a year. It originated in the following manner : A. D. 275.] TACITUS. 249 The assassins of Aurelian speedily discovered their error, and Mnestheus expiated his treason with iiis life. The sol- diers, who lamented the emperor, would not raise to his place any of those concerned in his death, however inno- cently ; and they wrote to the senate, requesting them to appoint his successor. The senate, though gratified by the deference shown to them by the army, deemed it prudent to decline the invidious honor. The legions again pressed them, and eight months passed away in the friendly contest. At length, (Sept. 2S,) the consul assembled the senate, and, laying before them tlie perilous condition of the empire, called on Tacitus, the First of the Senate, to give his opin- ion. But ere he could speak, he was saluted emperor and Augustus from all parts of the house; and, after having in vain represented his unfitness for the office on account of his advanced age, he was obliged to yield to their wishes, and accept the purple. The praetorian guards willingly acqui- esced in the choice of the senate; and, when Tacitus pro- ceeded to the camp in Thrace, the soldieis, true to their engagement, submitted willingly to his authority. Tacitus was now seventy-five years old. He was one of those men who were, perhaps, less rare at Rome than we generally imagine ; who, in the possession of a splendid for- tune, spent a life, dignified by the honors of the state, in the cultivation of philosophy and elegant literature. He claimed a descent from the historian of his name, whose works formed his constant study ; and after his accession to the empire, he directed that ten copies of them sliould be annually made and placed in the public libraries. Viewinor himself only as the minister of the laws and the senate, Tacitus sought to raise that body to its former con- sideration, by restoring the privileges of which it had been deprived. Once more it began to appoint magistrates, to he ir appeals, and to give validity to the imperial edicts. But this was merely a glimpse of sunshine irradiating the decline of its greatness. In history, there is no return ; and the real power of the once mighty Roman senate had de- parted forever. Aurelian had engaged a body of the Alans, a Sarmatian tribe who dwelt about Lake Mseotis, for the war against Per- sia. On the death of that emperor, and the suspension of the war, they ravaged the provinces south of the Euxine, to indemnify themselves for their disappointment. Tacitus, on taking the command of the army, offered to make good to F p 250 PROBus. [a. d. 276. them the engagements contracted by his predecessor. A good number of them accepted the terms and retired, and he led the legions against the remainder, and speedily reduced them. As these military operations fell in the winter, the emperor's constitution, enervated by age and the relaxing clime of southern Italy, proved unequal to tliem. His mind was also harassed by the factions which broke out in the camp, and' even reached his tent; and he sank under men- tal and corporeal suffering, at Tyana, on the 22d of April, 276, after a brief reign of six months and twenty days. M. Aurelius Probus. A. u. 1029—1025. A. D. 276—282. On the death of Tacitus, his brother Florianus claimed the empire as if fallen to him by inheritance, and the legions yielded him their obedience; but the army of the East obliged their general, Probus, to assume the purple, and a civil war commenced. The constitution of the European troops soon, however, began to give way under the heat of the sun of Asia; sickness spread among them ; desertions be- came numerous; and when, at Tarsus in Cilicia, the army of Probus came to give them battle, they averted the contest by proclaiming Probus, and putting their emperor to death, after a reign of less than three months. Probus was another of those Illyrians, who, born in an humble station, attained the empire by their merit, and hon- ored it by their virtues. lie entered the army young, and speedily became distinguished for his courage and his prob- ity. His merit did not escape the discerning eye of Vale- rian, who made him a tribune, though under the usual age; gave him the command of a body of auxiliary troops, and recommended him strongly to Gallienus, by whom, and by the succeeding emperors, he was greatly esteemed, and trusted with important commands. Aurelian rated him very highly, and is even thought to have destined him for his successor. After the death of Florianus, Probus wrote to the senate, apologizing for having accepted the empire from the iiands of the soldiery, but assuring them that he would submit himself to their pleasure. A decree was unanimously passed, investing him with all the imperial titles and powers. In A. D. 277-279.] GERMAN WAR. 251 return, Probus continued to the senate the right of hearing appeals, appointing magistrates, and of giving force to his edicts by their decrees. Tacitus had punished severely some of those concerned in the murder of Aurelian ; Probus sought out and punished the remainder, but with less rigor. He exhibited no enmity toward those who had supported Florianus. The Germans had taken advantage of the interregnum which succeeded the death of Aurelian, to make a formidable irruption into Gaul, where they made themselves masters of not less than seventy cities, and were in possession of nearly the whole of the country. Probus, however, as soon as his affairs permitted, (277,) entered Gaul at the head of a numer- ous and well-appointed army. lie gave the Germans several defeats, and forced them to repass the Rhine, with a loss, it is said, of 400,000 men. lie pursued them over that river; and nine of their kings were obliged to come in person to sue for peace. Tiie terms which the emperor imposed were, the restoration of all their booty, the annual delivery of a large quantity of corn and cattle, and 10,000 men to recruit the Roman armies. These Probus distributed in parties of fifty and sixty throughout the legions ; for it was his wise maxim, that the aid derived from the barbarians should be felt, not seen. He also placed colonies of the Germans, and other tribes, in Britain, and some of the other provinces. He had, further, it is said, conceived the idea of making the conquered Germans renounce the use of arms, and trust for their defence to tiiose of the Romans ; but, on considering the number of troops it would require, he gave it up, con- tenting himself with making them retire behind the Necker and Elbe, with building forts and towns in the country, be- tween these rivers and the Rhine, and running a wall, two hundred miles in length, from the Rhine to the Danube, as a defence to Italy and the provinces against the Aiemans. After the conquest of the Germans, the emperor led his troops into Rjctia and Illyria, where the terror of his name and his arms daunted the Goths and Sarmatians, and gave security to the provinces. He then (279) passed over to Asia, subdued the brigands of Isauria, expelled them from their fastnesses in the mountains, in which he settled some of his veterans, under the condition that they should send their sons, when eighteen years of age, to the army, in order that they might not be induced, by the natural advantages of the country, to take to a life of freebooting, and prove as dangerous as their predecessors. Proceeding through Syria, 252 PROBus. [a. D. 279. he entered Egypt, and reduced the people named Blemmy- ans,* who had taken the cities of Coptos and Ptoiemai's. He conchided a peace with the king of Persia, and, on his return throuo-h Thrace, he bestowed lands on a body of 200,000 Bustarnians, and on some of theGepidans, Vandals, and other tribes. He triumphed for the Germans and Blem- myans on his return to Rome. A prince so just and upright, and, at the same time, so warlike as Probus, might have been expected to have no competitors for empire ; yet even In: had to take the field against rival emperors. The first of these was Saturninus, whom he himself had made general of the East, a man of both talent and virtue, and for whom he had a most cordial esteem. But the light-minded and turbulent people of Alexandria, on occasion of his entry into their city, saluted hirn Augustus ; and, though he rejected the title and retired to Palestine, he yet, not reflecting on the generous nature of Probus, deemed that he could no longer live in a private station. He therefore assumed the purple, saying, with tears, to his friends, that the republic had lost a useful man, and that his own luin, and that of many others, was inevi- table. Probus tried in vain to induce him to trust to his clemency. A part of his troops joined those sent against him by the emperor; he was besieged in the castle of Apa- mtea, and taken, and slain. After the defeat of Saturninus, two officers, named Proc- ulus and Bonosus, assumed the purple in Germany. They were both men of ability, and the emperor found it necessary to take the field against them in person. Proculus, being defeated, fled for succor to the Franks, by whom he was be- trayed; and he fell in battle against the imperial troops. Bonosus held out for some time; but, having received a de- cisive overthrow, he hanrred himself. As he had been re- markable for his drinking powers, one who saw him hanwincr cried, " There hangs a jar, not a man." Probus treated the families of both with great humanity. Probus, though far less cruel, was as rigid a maintainer of discipline in the army as Aurelian had been. His mode was to keep the legions constantly employed, and thus to obviate the ill effects of idleness. When he commanded in Egypt, he employed his troops in draining marshes, improv- ing the course of the Nile, and raising public edifices. In • This people inhabited the mountains between Upper Egypt and the Red Sea. A. D. 282.] CAUus. 253 Gaul and Panrionia, he occupied them in forming vine- yards. Ilis maxim was, that a soldier should not eat his food idly ; and he even used to express his hopes that the time would come when the republic would have no further need of soldiers. This languajre naturally jjroduced a good deal of discontent; and when, on his n)nrch against the Per- sians, who had broken the peace, (282,) he halted at his native town of Sirmium, and set the soldiers at work to cut a canal, to drain the marshes which incommoded it, they broke out into an open mutiny. Probus fled for safety to an iron tower, whence he was in the habit of surveying the prog- ress of the works; but the furious soldiers forced the tower, and seized and murdered him. They then lamented him, and gave his remains an honorable sepulture. M. Aurclius Cams. A. V. 1035— 103G. A. D. 282—233. Notwithstanding their grief and repentance for the mur- der of Probus, the soldiers did not part with their power of choosing an emperor. They conferred the purple on Carus, the prcetorian prefect; and the senate was, as usual, obliged to acquiesce in their decision. Carus was about sixty years of age. The place of his birth is uncertain, but probability is in favor of Illyricum. He stood high in the estimation of the late discerning em- peror, and he was undoubtedly a man of considerable ability. The first care of the new emperor was to punish the au- thors of the death of his predecessor. He then raised his two sons, Carinus and Numerian, (who were both grown up,) to the dignity of Cnesars; and, as the barbarians, after the death of Probus, had passed the Rhine and the Lower Danube, he sent Carinus into Gaul, directing him, when he had repelled the invaders, to fix his residence at Rome, and govern there during his absence. He himself, taking Nume- rian with him, marched against the Sarmatians, (283,) whom he defeated with a loss of 16,000 slain and 20,000 prisoners; and, having thus secured the Illyrian frontier, he led his army over to Asia for the Persian war. When Carus passed the Euphrates, the Persian monarch, Varanes [Bahram) II., though an able and a valiant prince, being engaged in a civil war, could not collect a force suffi- CONTIN. 22 254 CARINUS AND NUMERIAN. [a. D. 283. cient to oppose to the Romans : he therefore sent to propose terms of peace. It was evening when the ambassadors ar- rived at the Roman camp. Cams was at the time seated on the grass eating his supper, which consisted of a bowl of cold boiled peas and some pieces of salt pork, with a purple woollen robe thrown over his shoulders. He desired them to be brought to him, and when they came he told them that, if their master did not submit, he would in a month's time make Persia as bare of trees and standing corn as his own head was of hair; and, suiting the action to the word, he pulled off the cap which he wore, and displayed his head totally devoid of hair. He invited them, if hungry, to share his meal ; if not, he bade them depart. They withdrew in terror; and Carus forthwith took the field, and recovered the whole of Mesopo- tamia; he defeated the troops sent against him, and took the cities of Seleucia and Ctesiphon. He was advancing into the interior of Persia, when, one day as the army was en- camped near the Tigris, there came on a most furious thun- der-storm ; and, immediately after a most awful clap, a cry was raised that the emperor was dead. His tent was found to be in flames; but whether his death was caused by light- ning or by treachery, remained uncertain. M. Aurelius Carimis and M. Aurclius Numcrianus. A. u. 1036—1038. A. D. 283—285. The death of Carus appears to have occurred about the end of the year 283. The authority of his sons was readily acknowledged; and Numcrian, apprehensive, as it might seem, of the designs of his brother, gave up the Persian war and set out on his return to Europe. Numerian was a prince of an amiable disposition, a lover and cultivator of literature, a poet, it is said, of no mean order, and an eloquent declaimer. He was married to the daughter of Arrius Aper, to whom Carus had given the im- portant post of praetorian prefect ; and as, on account of a weakness in his eyes, Numerian was obliged to remain shut up in his tent, or to travel in a close litter, all public business was transacted in his name by his father-in-law. The army had reached the shores of the Bosporus when a report was spread that the emperor, whom they had not seen for some time, had ceased to exist. The soldiers broke into the im- A. D. 285.] CAuiNus. 255 perial tent, and there found only the corpse of Numerian. The conceulnient of his death and other circumstances caused suspicion to fall on Aper. He was seized and laid in chains; a general assembly of the army was held while the generals and tribunes sat in council to select a successor to Numerian. 'J'heir choice fell on Diocletian, the com- mander of the body-guard. The soldiers testified their ap- probation. Diocletian, having ascended the tribunal, made a solemn protestation of his own innocence, and then caused Aper to be led before him. " This man," said he, when he appeared, " is the murderer of Numerian ; " and, without giv- ing him a moment's time for defence, he plunged his sword into his bosom. It may cause some surprise that the army should have proceeded to the election of an emperor while Carinus was yet living. We know not what intrigues there may have been on the part of Diocletian; but the vices of that prince are said to have been such as would fully justify his exclusion. His conduct at Rome had been so vicious, and he put such unworthy persons into office even during his father's life- time, that Cams cried he was no son of his, and proposed to substitute for him in the empire Constantius, the governor of Dalmatia. When the death of his father had removed all restraint, he gave free course to his vicious inclinations, dis- playing the luxury of an Elagabalus and the cruelty of a Domitian. The news, however, of the death of his brother, and the elevation of Diocletian, roused him to energy, and he placed himself at the head of his troops. After a succession of engagements, the decisive conflict took place (May, 285) on the plain of Margus, near the Danube in Moesia. Carinus was betrayed or deserted by his own troops, and he was slain by a tribune whose wife he had seduced. During the long period now elapsed, the aspect of the Ro- man world remained nearly as we have already described it. The absence of a respectable middle class of society, abject poverty and enormous wealth standing in striking contrast in the provinces as well as in Italy, unbridled luxury, and the want of all noble and generous feeling, every where met the view. At the same time, foreign trade, of which luxury is the great promoter, was in a most flourishing state, and immense fortunes were acquired by trafiic. The silks, the, pnjr-!^ and the precious stones and pearls of India, and 256 LITERATURE. the amber of the Baltic, reached Rome in abundance, and were purchased by its luxurious nobles and their ladies at enormous prices. The history of this period has noticed two instances which may give us some idea of the wealth of individuals in those days : the one is that of a Roman nobleman, the emperor Tacitus ; the other that of an Alexandrian mer- chant. The landed and other property of the former pro- duced him an income of two hundred and eighty millions of sesterces, and his ready money at the time of his acce.s- sion sufficed for the pay of the army. The merchant was Firmus, who assumed the purple in the time of Aurelian. This man had a great number of merchantmen on the Red Sea for his trade with India; he carried on a commerce with the interior of Africa ; he contracted with the Blem- myans for the produce of their mines, and he had also com- mercial relations with the Saracens or Bedoween Arabs. He possessed, moreover, extensive manufactories, and it is said that he used to boast that the paper manufactured by him would suffice to maintain an array. The Roman army at this period was evidently on the de- cline in respect to discipline and moral force. The soldiers were now accustomed to luxuries and indulgences unknown to the troops of the republic or of the early days of the em- pire. Barbarians entered the Roman service in ffreat num- bers ; and we shall ere long find officers of the very highest rank and power bearing German names. The maintenance of good military roads had always been an object of solicitude with the Roman government. We have seen the care of Augustus on this head ; and that wise emperor had also instituted a system of posts for the despatch of letters on public business, and the conveyance of persons employed by the government. This system was now great- ly extended, and post-houses were established at regular dis- tances along all the great roads, furnished with horses, mules, and carriages, for the conveyance of goods as well as persons. These beasts and carriages were provided gratis by the in- habitants of the district in which the post-house stood, and the supplying of them was a most onerous burthen. Any one bearing an imperial diploma could demand horses and carriages, and food for himself and attendants without pay- ment. The system was in effect the same as that which prevails at the present day in Turkey, where the sultan's firman corresponds exactly with the imperial diploma. When the emperor was on his way to any p'lrt of h-s do- PHILOSOPHY. 257 minions, his whole court and retinue were maintained at the charije of the inhabitants of tlie towns where he halted: and at each he expected to find a pahice ready furnished. In like manner, tlie wants of the troops when on their march were to be supplied ; and when we reflect how frequently they were removed from one frontier to another, and how incessant most of the emperors were in their movements, we may form some conception of the oppression endured by the subjects. Literature partook of the general decline. After the reign of Trajan, we do not meet with a single Latin poet or historian possessing any merit. The Greek language was not, however, equ illy barren. Plutarch, who wrote on such a variety of subjects in so agreeable a manner, flour- ished under the Antonines. The witty Lucian was his contemporary. History was written by Arrian, Dion Cas- sius, and Herodian, with more or less success. The travels of Pausanias in Greece are of great value to the modern scholar; and the medical writings of Galen, and the works of Ptolemy on astronomy and geography, long exercised a most powerful influence over the human mind in both Europe and Asia. In poetry the Grecian muse of this period aimed at no higher flight than her Latin sister. The branch of literature (if we may so term it) most culti- vated at this time was philosophy. The Stoic system found many followers; it numbered among its professors the em- peror Marcus Aurelius, who bequeathed to posterity his Meditations, in ten books; and Arrian, the historian and statesman, published the lessons of his master, Epictetus. But the philosophy which far eclipsed all the others, was the New Platonism of Alexandria, of which it is necessary to speak somewhat in detail. In the writings of Plato there is much that has a mystic tone, borrowed perhaps from the Pythagoreans, or derived immediately from the East. In such parts the usual charac- teristics of mysticism appear; simple truths are enveloped in figurative language, and vain attempts are made at e.xplain- ing things beyond the reach of human knowledge. As such we may mention the Timaeus and similar pieces, which are certainly the least valuable portion of the philosopher's writings. But owing to their obscurity, which gives them a vague air of magnificent profundity, these were the very pieces that some most admired ; and their resemblance to 22* GQ 258 PHILOSOPHY. the dreamy speculations of the East strongly recommended them to those whose turn of mind led them to mysticism and to the cultivation of occult pliilosophy. Alexandria was the chief seat of this Platonism, and its professors there ob- tained the name of Eclectics ; for, taking their leading principles from the works of Plato, they added such of those of the Stoics, the Peripatetics, and of the Oriental philosophy, as were capable of being brought into harmony with those of their master. The writings of Phiio the Jew will show how Platonism and the Law of Moses were made to accord. Toward the close of the second century, this philosophy received a more extended form from a teacher named Am- monius Saccas, a man of great ingenuity and of a lively imagination. His object was to bring all sects of philoso- phy, and all forms of religion, Christianity included, into one harmonious whole. His system differed from that of the Eclectics in this, that, while they viewed the different systems as composed of truth and error, he regarded them as all flowing from the one source of truth, and therefore capable of being reduced to their original unity. He held the world to be an eternal emanation of the Deity; and he adopted and extended the Egyptian and Platonic notion of Daemons of different ranks and degrees. The human soul, he asserted, might, by means of certain secret rites, become capable of perceiving and conversing with these intelligences. This art, which he termed Theurgia, was a kind of magic, the exercise of which was confined to those of highest order in the sect. With this was combined a system of rigid ascet- icism, enjoined on all who aimed at freeing the soul from the bonds of the body. Ammonius, who was born a Christian, represented Christ as having been an admirable Theurgist; and he labored to bring the Christian doctrine into accord- ance with his own peculiar views, by representing such parts of it as resisted his efforts as interpolations made by ignorant disciples. As many of the Christians studied in his school, the effect of the New Platonism, as it was named, or their speculations, proved extremely injurious, and many of the subsequent errors and superstitions into which they fell, may be traced to that source. The most distinguished of the New Platonists were Porphyry, Plotinus, Proclus, Simplicius, and Jamblichus. The sect flourished till the time of the final triumph of Christianity. THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 259 CHAPTER VII. THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. PERSECUTIONS OF THE CHURCH. CORRUPTION OF RELI- GION. THE EBIONITES. GNOSTIC HERESIES. MONTA- NUS. THE PASCHAL QUESTION. COUNCILS. THE HIE- RARCHY. PLATONIC PHILOSOPHV, ITS EFFECTS. RITES AND CEREMONIES. CHRISTIAN WRITERS. The Christian religion, during the last two centuries, had made rapid progress, and extended itself to Spain, Gaul, Britain, and the most remote parts of the Roman empire; but it at the same time had to endure external persecution and internal corruption. It also underwent a change in its discipline and government, and thereby lost a portion of its original simplicity. Of these subjects we will now treat. Nothing can be more erroneous than tha idea given by Gibbon and other skeptical writers of the tolerant spirit of the ancient world. This boasted tolerance merely extended to allowing each people to follow its own national system of religion, and worship its own traditional deities, provided they did not attempt to make proselytes. It was in effect the toleration still to be found in Mohammedan countries; but, with respect to the worship of new or foreign deities by their own citizens, the laws both of Greece and Rome were strict and severe. One of the charges on which the excellent Soc- rates was condemned to death, was that of introducing new deities ; and the language of the Roman law was, " Let no one have any separate worship or hold any new gods ; nor let any private worship be offered to any strange gods, unless they have been publicly adopted."* We find that this law was acted on in all times of the republic, and that the magis- trates had the power to prevent any foreign mode of worship, drive from the city or otherwise punish its professors and ministers, and seize and destroy their religious books. t -The reason of these laws was probably political rather than re- ligious; for all governments have a natural and a just aversion to secret societies, which are so easily and so frequently con- * Cicero, Laws, ii. 8. t Livy, iv. 30 ; xxxix. 16. Vol. Max. i. 3. Dion, lii. 36. 260 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. verted to political purposes, and the professors of a religion different from that of the state will always form a distinct so- ciety, and, as they increase in numbers, may prove dangerous to the political constitution. The early Christians were unfortunate in many circum- stances. The Jews, who were their most implacable ene- mies, were established in all parts of the empire ; and they were not only exposed to their calumnies and persecutions, but, as they were regarded as merely a sect of that people, they came in for their share of the odium under which they lay. Again, proselytism was of the very essence of the new faith ; and this was a point on which the Roman government was most jealous and apprehensive. Further, the Christiana were taught to hold all idolatrous rites in the utmost abhor- rence; and, as these were woven into the whole texture of public and private life, they found it necessary to abstain from the theatres, and from all public shows and solemnities ; and they were obliged to be equally on their guard in the re- lations of private life, and hence they were regarded as mo- rose and unsociable. The spiritual monotheism of the Chris- tians was, moreover, considered as atheism * by those who had no conception of religion disjoined from temples, images, and a plurality of objects of worship. The simple rites and practices of their religion also furnished materials of calumny to their enemies. The symbolical eating and drinking of the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist, for example, was converted into Thyestian banquets, and their Agapa? or love- feasts were represented as scenes of riot and pollution. The Christians themselves, too, were not always prudent; they gave at times needless offence, and many exhibited what we may term a selfish eagerness to obtain the crown of martyr- dom. We thus see that the Christians were amenable to the ancient law of Rome for introducing a new religion and neglecting to comply with that of the state, and for their zeal in making proselytes to their opinions. They were at the same time odious to the vulgar, for their abstinence from the temples and the public shows. All kinds of calumnies were therefore spread abroad respecting them ; and we need not wonder at these finding ready acceptance with the vulgar, when we recollect how they operated on the minds of such * [Much the same as, at the present day, deism and atheism are often confounded by the ignorant and bigoted. — J. T. S.] PERSECUTIONS. 261 men as Tacitus and Suetonius. To such a pitch did the popular dislike of the Cliristiaus at length rise, that the guilt of all public calamities was laid ou tlieni. " If the Tiber," says Tertullian,* "has overflowed its banks; or the Nile has not overllowed ; if Heaven h:is refused its rain; if the earth lias been shaken; if famine or plague has spread its ravages, the cry is immediately raised, ' To the lions with the Cliris- tians!'" When Christianity had triumphed over its foes, and was become the religion of the state, men began, like voyagers escaped from shipwreck, to looic back with an eye of compla- cency on the perils through which it had passed, and felt a pleasure in magnifying its calamities and sufferings. The number of persecutions was gradually raised to the mystic number of ten, the number of the victims was prodigiously magnified, and imagination anmsed itself in varying the modes of their torture. The apostle John, for example, was [pretended to have been] thrown, at Rome, by order of Domitian, into a caldron of boiling oil, from which he came forth unscathed; and St. Baby las was, at Pergamus, put in- to a brazen bull, heated red-hot; though these martyrdoms were apparently unknown to the learned Eusebius, and there are little grounds for supposing that there was any persecu- tion in the time of Domitian. The chief inventors of these pious legends were the monks, a class of men who have al- ways exhibited a strong inclination for the supernatural and the horrible. We will here briefly sketch the sufferings of the church, as they are to be derived from authentic sources.t The first persecution of the Christians is that by Nero, above related. That, as we have seen, was merely an effort made by a tyrant to throw the guilt with which he was him- self charged on a body who were generally obnoxious: there was nothing whatever religious or political in it, and we have no reason for supposing that it was of long duration, or extended beyond the city of Rome. Eusebius mentions a tradition that St. Paul was beheaded and St. Peter crucified at this time; but little reliance is to be placed on such ac- counts, and it is extremely doubtful if the latter ever came to Rome. Under the Flavian family, the Christians were unmolested. * Apol. 40. t In the followinsr account of the persecutions, we have made Euse- bius our principal guide. Very few of the Acts of the Saints and Mar- tyrs of the first three centuries, as Mosheim observes, are genuine. 262 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Doniitian, indeed, is said, toward tlie close of his reign, to have exercised some severities against thein. On this occa- sion, we are told, the two grandsons of Judas, the brother of our Lord, were brought before him, as being of the family of David. In answer to his inquiries, they told him that their whole property consisted of a small piece of land, which they cultivated themselves ; and they showed their hands hardened with toil. The kingdom of Christ which they expected they described as a celestial one, which would not aj)pear till the end of the world. The tyrant, apprehending little from the heirs of such a kingdom, dismissed them with contempt, and put an end to the persecution.* In the reign of Trajan, Eusebius says, "there was a partial persecution excited throughout the cities, in consequence of a popular insurrection," i. c. an insurrection of the populace against the Christians, the usual source of persecution. It would appear to have been very partial indeed, for he men- tions but one martyr, St. Simeon, bishop of Jerusalem, a kinsman of our Lord's. The celebrated letter of Pliny to Trajan, however, proves that in some parts of the empire the Christians were exposed to much peril. This amiable man, being appointed governor of Pontus and Bithynia in the year 103, found numerous charges brought against persons of all ages and sexes as Christians. Unwilling to punish, and un- certain how to act, he wrote to the emperor for advice. t Tra- jan, in his reply, directed that the Christians should not be sought after, but that, if accused and convicted, they should be punished, and that no anonymous accusations should be attended to. Considering the Roman law on the subject, and the general state of sentiment and feeling at the time, this rescript is highly creditable to the humanity and the justice of the emperor. From Pliny's letter we learn that a chief ground of proceeding against the Christians was the em- peror's aversion to clubs and societies, {/uta:rias,) for which reason Pliny was very strict in prohibiting the Christians from meetino; together to celebrate the Eucharist or hold their love feasts. We further learn that the number of the Christians was very considerable, both in the towns and in the country, and that the heathen temples had been nearly deserted ; but that, when the law was put in force, such numbers abandoned their • Hegesippus ap. Euseb. iii. 20. t Plin. Ep. x. 97, 98. PERSECUTIONS. 263 faith, that Pliny had strong hopes that the superstition, as he termed it, might be suppressed. So fur was Hadrian from being a persecutor, that, ac- cording to Justin Martyr,* Serenius Granianus, the procon- sul of Asia, having written to him " that it did not appear just to put the Christians to death without a regular accu- sation and trial, merely to gratify the outcries of the popu- lace," he issued a rescript, directed to Granianus's successor, Minucius Fundanus, directinnr him to pay no regard to mere petitions and outcries, but to judge of the accusations himself, and to punish the accused according to the quality of their offence, if it was clearly proved that they had transgressed the laws, but at the same time to punish severely any one who should bring a false and slanderous accusation. The emperor, it would seem, wrote to the same effect to some of the other governors. t During the reign of the excellent Antoninus Pius, the Christians suffered no molestation on the part of the govern- ment ; but they had much to endure from the malignity and s iperstition of the populace of the provincial towns of Asia. The emperor, however, interposed in their behalf, and re- newed the directions of Hadrian to the authorities in the provinces. Hitherto the sufferings of the Christians had been com- paratively light ; but under the reign of the philosophic M. Aurelius, a severe persecution raged against them. It is not quite clear whether any edicts were made by the emperor di- recting them to be punished, J but he certainly held them in contempt, and he was anxious to uphold the ancient religion and ceremonies of the state, and may therefore have been in- clined to deal rigorously with those who rejected and opposed them. Still, on examining the accounts of the martyrdoms in this reign, it will appear that they resulted in general from the usual cause — the hatred of the populace towards the Christians. The year 166, in which Aurelius first left Rome for the German war, is usually fixed on as the commencement of the persecution. A Christian, named Ptolemaeus, and two others were put to death at Rome, solely, we are told, on account of their faith. On this occasion, Justin Martyr (by whom we * Euseb. iv. 8, 9. t Euseb. iv. 26. t Melito {ap. Euseb. iv. 26) would seem to assert that there were decrees issued against the Christians by Aurelius; but Tertullian (Apol. 5) avers the contrary. 264 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. are informed of the fact) addressed his second Apology to the emperor and the senate. He was liimself, soon after, with some others, put to death by the city prefect Rusticus. As Rusticus was a philosopher, and the Epicurean Crescens, Justin's great opponent, was then at Rome, there appears to be some reason for supposing that the philosophers had already adopted that spirit of inveterate hostility to the Christians which caused them to become their unrelenting persecutors. It was also in this year that the persecution broke out at Smyrna, in which the venerable Bishop Poly- carp, and about a dozen other Christians, suffered for their faith. The church of Smyrna wrote, on this occasion, an epistle to those of Pontus, from which we learn the following particulars. The letter commenced with an account of the other martyrs and their sufferings. " The by-standers," it says, " were struck with amazement at seeing them lacerated with scourges to their very blood and arteries, so that the flesh con- cealed in tiie very inmost parts of the body, and the bowels themselves, were exposed to view. Then they were laid upon sea-shells, and on the sharp heads of spears on the ground, and, after passing through every kind of punishment and torment, were at last thrown as food for wild beasts." The youth and beauty of one of these martyrs, named Germanicus, interest- ed the proconsul so much, that he earnestly implored him to take compassion on himself; but the ardent youth even irri- tated the beast to which he was exposed, and speedily per- ished. The nmltitude then began to call for Polycarp. This venerable prelate had, on the urgency of his friends, retired from the city ; but he was discovered and seized by those sent in quest of him. When brought back to Smyrna, he was conducted straight to the Stadion, (where public shows were exhibited,) and led to the tribunal of the proconsul, who urged him to deny Christ, and swear by the genius of Caisar. " Eighty-and-six years," said the holy prelate, " have I served Christ, and he never did me wrong; and how can I now blaspheme my King that has saved me? " After several vain attempts to influence him, the proconsul caused the herald to proclaim aloud, " Polycarp confesses that he is a Christian." The multitude then, both Jews and Gentiles, cried out, " This is that teacher of Asia, the father of the Christians, the destroyer of our gods, he that teaches multitudes not to sacrifice, not to worship." They insisted that a lion should be loosed at him; but, being informed that that part of the PERSECUTIONS. 265 show was over, they cried out that he should be burnt alive , and they forthwith began to collect wood and straw from the shops and baths for the purpose, " the Jews, as usual, freely offering their services." It was the custom to secure the victim to the stake with nails ; but at his own request Poly- carp was merely bound to it. He uttered a most devout prayer, and fire was then set to the pile. But the flames did not approach him ; " they presented," says the narrative, " an appearance like an oven, as wlicn the sail of a vessel is filled with the wind, and tlms formed a wall round the body of the martyr; and he was in the midst, not like burning flesh, but like gold and silver, purified in the fiirnacc. We also per- ceived a fragrant odor, like the fumes of incense or other precious aromatic drugs." The executioner at length, by the order of the people, ran him through with his sword ; and the gush of blood, it is added, was so great as to extinguish the fire. At tiie instigation of the Jews, the body of the martyr was burnt, lest, as they s:iid, the Christians should begin to worship Polycarp instead of him that was crucified. The letter asserts that the martyrdom of Polycarp terminated the persecution at Smyrna ; but as martyrs are mentioned at Pergamus, victims may still have continued to be given to the popular fury. Hitherto the persecution of the Christians seems to have been nearly confined to Asia, and to have been chiefly ex- cited by the Jews ; but in the year 177, Gaul, whither the gospel had now penetrated, became the scene of persecution on a scale of magnitude as yet without example. The churches of Lyons and Vienne wrote to those of Asia a full account of their sufferings, from which it appears that the governor and the populace were equally envenomed against the Christians, and that the emperor himself, when consulted on the subject, merely directed that those who were Roman citizens should be beheaded, those who renounced their faith be dismissed, leaving the rest to be exposed to the beasts, or put to death in other barbarous modes. Among the victims were Pothinus, bishop of Lyons, a venerable prelate of ninety years of age, and Attains of Pergamus, a man of great zeal and piety. But the constancy of a female slave, named Blandina, was the subject of admiration to both Christians and Gentiles. Every refinement of torture was exercised upon her ; day after day she was tortured or exposed to the beasts, who, however, would not even touch her. At length she was put in a net, and flung before a furious bull ; and CONTIN. 23 H H 266 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. when he had tossed her till she became insensible, she was despatched by the executioner. Among the modes of torture employed was an iron chair made quite hot, in which the victims were compelled to sit till their flesh was literally roasted; hot plates of brass were also fastened to the tender- est parts of their bodies. Heathen slaves, belonging to the Christians, were seized, and by terror or persuasion were in- duced, says the letter, " to charge us with the feasts of Thy- estes, and the incests of Qi^dipus, and such crimes as we may neither think nor speak of, and such indeed as we do not even believe were committed by men." The reign of Commodus was a period of repose to the church. Severus also favored the Christians in the first years of his reign; but in 202 he issued an edict forbidding any one to become a Jew or a Christian. This gave occa- sion to the exercise of some severities, of which the principal scene was Alexandria. In the reigns that intervened between Severus and Decius, the Christians were either favored or unmolested, with the exception of that of Maximin, who per- secuted the heads of the church, on account of their attach- ment to his virtuous predecessor. Decius, as we have seen, was anxious to restore the ancient institutions of Rome. As these were connected with the re- ligion of the state, and as the Christians, whose faith was most strongly opposed to that religion, were now become ex- ceedingly numerous, he saw that he must suppress their doc- trine before he could hope to carry his design into effect. He accordingly issued an edict, requiring all his subjects, under heavy penalties, to return to the ancient religion ; and a persecution of the church, more severe than any that had yet occurred, was the immediate result. The fervid declama- tion of St. Cyprian, or the highly-colored fancy-piece of St. Gregory Nyssen, on this subject, cannot be relied on with im- plicit confidence ; but from the fact that numbers (including priests and even prelates) apostatized, and from the con- stancy of the tradition, there can be no doubt but that the persecution was both general and severe. The bishop of Rome suflered martyrdom, those of Jerusalem and Antioch died in prison. The celebrated Origen was also among those who suffered imprisonment and torture in this calami- tous period. Valerian is said to have been at first extremely favorable to the Christians ; but when he was in the East, influenced by Macrianus, he wrote to the senate, ordering the severest PERSECUTIONS. 267 measures to be adopted against them. The persecutioa which ensued was terminated by the captivity of the emperor in the year 260 ; and Gallienus wrote circulars to the bishops, authorizing them to resume the public exercise ^i^-tfieir of- fices, and assuring them of his protection. Among the martyrs in the time of Valerian, the most illus- trious was St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage. This able, zealous, and eloquent prelate had prudently concealed himself during the persecution of Decius. When Valerian's first edict was issued, the proconsul summoned him before him, and informed him that the emperor required all who had abandoned the religion of the state to return to it.* Cyprian replied that he was a Christian, and a bishop, a worshipper of the true and only God. A sentence of banish- ment was then pronounced against him, and he was sent to Curubis, a city on the sea-coast, about forty miles from Carthage. On the arrival, however, of a new proconsul, he was allowed to return to Carthage, and reside in his gardens near the city. He had not been there long when (258) the proconsul received positive orders to proceed capitally against the Christian teachers. An officer was therefore sent with some soldiers to arrest Cyprian and bring him before the tri- bunal. As his cause could not be heard that day, the officer took him to his own house for the night, where he treated him with much attention, and allowed his friends free access to him. The Christians kept watch all through the night, in the street before the house. In the morning, the bishop was conducted before the proconsul's tribunal. Having answered to his name, he was called on to obey the emperor's mandate, and offer sacrifice. He replied, " I do not sacrifice." The proconsul urged him, but he was firm ; and that magistrate, having consulted with his council, read from a tablet his sen- tence in the following words : " That Thascius Cyprianus should be immedia.tely beheaded, as the enemy of the gods of Rome, and as the chief and rincrleader of a criminal as- sociation, which he had seduced into an impious resistance aorainst the laws of the most holy emperors. Valerian and Gal- lienus." The bishop calmly responded, "God be praised !" the Christians, who were present in great numbers, cried out, " Let us too be beheaded with him." Cyprian was then led away to the plain before the city; the presbyters and dea- cons accompanied him, and aided him in his preparations for * The prelate had been a convert. 268 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. death ; he took off his upper garment, and, directing them to give the executioner tive-and-twenty pieces of gold, laid his hands on his face, and bent his head, which was struck off at one blow. In the night his body was conveyed, amidst a multitude of lights, to the burial-place of the Christians, and there deposited, the government giving no opposition.* After the reign of Valerian, the church had rest for nearly half a century, when its last and greatest persecution broke out. We will relate that event in its proper place. On reviewing the history of the church for the first three centuries, various subjects of reflection present themselves. We may, for example, observe, as we have already done, that the sufferings of the Christians have been greatly exaggerated by the frauds and fictions of succeeding ages ; that the per- secutions on the part of the Roman government were politi- cal rather than religious, as they occurred in the reigns of the best emperors, who were evidently prompted by the desire of restoring the ancient institutions to which the Roman great- ness was ascribed; that, finally, the greatest sufferings of the Christians were caused by the fanatic spirit of the populace, especially in the cities of Asia, and at the instigation of the Jews; and were sometimes brought on by their own impru- dence. It may further be observed, that the charge made against the heathen priesthood of exciting the fanaticism of the people out of regard to their own gains, does not seem to be well founded. They did not, in fact, except in Asia Mi- nor, form a separate caste or order ; and they therefore had not the corporate spirit which would inspire them with jeal- ousy and fears. Finally, we would observe that the popular saying, " The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church," should be received with great limitations. That many were led to view Christianity with a favorable eye when they saw the constancy with which even women and children met tor- ture and death, is not to be denied ; the same effects were observed in England in the time of Q,ueen Mary Tudor. But false religion, heresy, even atheism itself, have had their martyrs; and the progress of Christianity should be ascribed to its true causes, namely, its purity, and the other causes al- ready enumerated. It is a melancholy reflection, that, giving the greatest ex- * There is a very circumstantial account of the martyrdom of Cyp- rian, by the deacon Pontius, wlio was in attendance on him ; tlie pro consular acts also remain, and the two accounts harmonize. PERSECUTIONS. 269 tent consistent with truth and probability to the number of Christians immolated by the policy or the intolerance of hea- then Rome, it still fell infinitely short of that of the„;vi;ctims sacrificed to the bigotry of Papal Rome. When we think of the crusade against the Albigenses, of the 50,000 or 100,000 Protestants destroyed in the Netherlands, the St. Bartholo- mew massacre in France, the 100,000 persons burnt by the Inquisition, and the other dreadful deeds of the church of Rome, the persecutions of Aurelius, of Decius, and even of Diocletian, shrink into absolute insignificance; and we are forced to acknowledge that the perversion of true religion can outgo any false religion in barbarity. At the same time we must protest against the acts of Popery being laid to the charge of genuine Christianity. The evils of persecution were only transient; but those in- flicted by heresy and fdse doctrine were deep and perma- nent, and their ill effects are felt even at the present day. The pride of the human intellect, and the desire to discover those secrets which are not to be known to man, gave origin to most of those opinions which we find recorded as monstrous heresies by the Fathers of the Church. These may be all comprehended under the term Gnosis, (/'rwaic, knoioledge,) the word used to designate the false philosophy which then prevailed, and which had been derived from the sultry re- gions of India and Persia. To this is to be added the New Platonism of the Greeks, which, however, had borrowed large- ly of the Oriental philosophy, and the Judaism or corrupted religion of the people of Israel. From these various sources flowed all the corruptions of the pure and simple religion of the gospel; and so early did their operation commence, that it may be said that the stream had hardly burst from the sacred mount when it was defiled vvith mundane impurities. It is not our intention to treat of all the heresies enumera- ted by the Fathers. We shall only touch upon the principal ones, commencing with those which originated in Judaism.* From the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles of St. Paul, we learn that the Jewish converts in general, from devotion to their law, whose precepts they regarded as of everlasting obligation, and from their ignorance of the true nature and spirit of Christianity, held that the observance of the cere- * in the remainder of this chapter, our immediate authority has been the learned, candid, and judicious Mosheim. The references to Ire- nsEus and other writers will be found in his works. 23* 270 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. monial law was necessary for salvation. Against this errone- ous notion the apostle Paul exerted himself with the utmost vigor; and he succeeded in checking its progress among the Gentile converts. It still, however, continued to prevail among the Christians of Judaea; and after the destruction of Jerusalem, in the reign of Hadrian, those who persisted in maintaining it withdrew to Peraea, or the region beyond the Jordan, and formed there a church of their own. They soon, however, split into two sects, named Nazarenes and Ebion- ites;* each of which had its peculiar gospel, differing from those which have been received by the church in general. The former, who held that the Mosaic law was binding only on Jews, were not regarded as heretics ; but the latter, deny- ing the miraculous conception of Christ, and asserting that the Mosaic law, with all the additions made to it by the tra- ditions of the Pharisees, was binding on every one, were nat- urally placed under that denomination. Neither attained to any importance ; and after no very long time their names alone remained to testify their former existence. On looking through the ancient religions of Europe, from the Frozen Ocean to the Mediterranean, one is struck with the absence of all purely malignant beings: in those of Asia, on the contrary, we usually encounter one or more deities whose delight is in the production of evil, or whose office is destruction. In the Mosaic religion, the evil power is justly represented as the mere servant of the supreme God; but in some of the uninspired creeds, he is exalted into the rival and enemy of the great Author of good. This system received its fullest development in the ancient religion of Persia, where, beside the original cause of all, there was a hierarchy of good spirits ruled over by a prince named Ormuzd, who were engaged in ceaseless conflict with Ahriman, the prince of darkness, and his subordinate .spirits, f The Apocryphal books of the Jews show that during the Captivity they had im- bibed many ideas from the religion of their conquerors; and at the time when Christianity was first promulgated, the Ori- * That is, The Poor, as the term signifies in Hebrew. The best- founded opinion as to its origin is, that it was adopted by tiicniselves on account of their humility or poverty. t [It should, however, be added, that both Ormuzd and Ahriman were subordinate to the supreme first cause, according to tills system, .and that it was a fundamental article that, in the end, Ahriman was to be overcome by Ormuzd. — J. T. S.] GNOSTICISM. 271 ental philosophy, or Gnosis, as this system Ms denominated, was widely spread over western Asia. The doctrine of the two principles evidently arose from the wish to explain the origin of evil. Nature and reason lead man to regard the Supreme Being as purely good. That evil could not proceed from h'un was manifest; whence, then, the ills of nature and the vice and pains of man? Matter which composed the parts of the world and the bodies of man was an apparent cause; but matter, sluggish and inert, could hardly be supposed to have organized itself, and produced the beauty, order, and harmony, so conspicuous in the material world; and if that task was assigned to the Deity, he became, by necessary inference, the author of ail the evil that thence resulted. There must therefore have been some intelligent being the author of evil. On the subject of the nature of this being there was much difference of opinion. Some regarded him as equal to and cocternal with the good Deity; others held him to be generated of matter; others, again, maintained that he was the oflfspring of the Deity, who, from pride and envy, had rebelled against the author of his being, and erected a separate state for himself. Many viewed the creator of the world as one of the spirits generated by the Deity, who was moved to his work by a sudden impulse, and acted with the approbation of the Deity, from whom pride afterwards caused him to fall off, and to seduce men to disobedience. Others thought he had a natural tendency to evil ; others, that, like the world and man, his work, he was composed of both good and evil. All agreed in the belief of an eternal warfare be- tween the good and evil principles. The professors of this philosophy gave to the good being the appellation of Depth, ( Bvdug,) on account of his unfathom- able nature; they named his abode the Fulness, (lllriouiiju,) a vast expanse resplendent with everlasting light. Here he abode for ages in solitude and silence, till at length, moved by some secret impulse, he begat of himself two intelligences, one of either sex. These gave being to others, who becom- ing progenitors in their turn, the region of light was gradual- ly peopled with a numerous family of blessed spirits; but the farther their remove, in the order of birth, from the original parent, the less was their degree of goodness, knowledge, and power. To the higher class of these spirits was given the name of yEons, (./iu*'fc,) or eternal beings. Matter lay, rude and undigested, far beyond the realms of light. It was agitated by turbulent, irregular, intestinal mo- 272 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. tions, and contained in it the seeds of moral and natural evil. In this condition it was found by the ^Eon, who was to give it form. This being, named the Demiurge {Jrj/uiovQyo;) or Worker, having fashioned the world, filled it with men and other animals, giving them particles of the divine essence to animate their material bodies. He then threw off his allegi- ance to the author of his being, assumed the government of the world, dividing it into districts, of which he assigned the government to the inferior spirits who had assisted him in the work of creation. The Deity, however, did not aban- don the world altogether. Moved with compassion for the divine portion of man which was confined in the prison of the flesh, and liable to be involved in ignorance and tainted with vice, he from time to time sent forth teachers, endowed with wisdom and filled with celestial light, to instruct man- kind in truth and virtue; but the Demiurge and his associates persecuted and slew the divine messengers, and opposed the truth by superstition and sensual pleasures. Their efforts were but too successful ; a small portion only of mankind continued in the worship of the true God and the practice of virtue ; all the rest were sunk in idolatry and sensuality. The former, when freed from their bodies by death, were admitted at once into the realms of supernal light; the latter were forced to migrate into various bodies ; but the greater part, if not all of them, will at length be purified and restored to their celestial country, and then the Deity will dissolve the material world, and reduce it to its primitive state, and vice and misery will cease forever. The belief of the essential malignity of matter was calcu- lated to produce two opposite effects on the moral conduct of man. Some would think it their duty to invigorate the spirit and keep the body under by meditation, by fasting, by self-denial, and mortification of every kind. Hence the Yofjees of Brahmanism, the Fakeers and Dervishes of Mo- hammedanism, and the monks of Buddhism and corrupted Christianity. Others, maintaining that the essence of piety consisted in a knowledge of the Supreme Being, and the maintenance of an intercourse with him by contemplation and abstraction, and that the pure soul was unaffected by the acts of its impure companion, held that the practice of virtue was not enjoined by the Deity, but was only the artifice of the prince of the world to keep men in obedience. They therefore freely indulged all their sensual propensities. This explains the charges of dissoluteness made against some sects GNOSTICISM. \ 273 of the Gnostics ; but these charges, which are cerTainly ex- aggerated, must not be implicitly received. Had this false philosophy remained distinct from Chris- tianity, it might have proved comparatively innocuous. But the Gnostic philosophers looked forward to the appearance of another of the divine messenijers who were to redeem mankind from the tyranny of the Demiurge ; and many of them, struck by the miracles of Jesus Christ, and the purity, sublimity, and comprehensiveness of his doctrine, which tended to abrogate the Mosaic law, (regarded by them as the work of the Demiurge,) and overthrow the idolatry of the heathen, saw in him the long-expected envoy of heaven, and embraced his religion. Their firmly-rooted tenets, however, did not accord with its divine simplicity; and they found it necessary to modify it considerably. For this purpose, they asserted that the religion of Christ consisted of two sets of doctrines ; the one easy, and suited to the capacity of the vulgar, which was contained in the books of the New Testa- ment ; the other of a higher nature and deeper import, re- vealed by Christ in private to his apostles, for their knowl- edge of which they were indebted to Peter, Paul, and Andrew; in whose names they forged various Gospels and Epistles. They also maintained that the copies of the New Testament in common use had been corrupted, and produced what they affirmed to be genuine transcripts of the real originals. They moreover appealed to certain books which bore the venerable names of Seth, Noah, Abraham, and other holy men, as their authors, as well as to those propagated in the name of Zoroaster and other Eastern sages. They thus were enabled, in conformity with their tenets, to deny that the Mosaic law was given by God, to maintain that Christ was by nature far inferior to the Father, and that he never really assumed a natural body ; and totairy to reject the doc- trine of the resurrection, regarding all the passages relating to it as merely figurative. It proved fortunate for Christianity that the Gnostics were not united in one consistent body, but were divided into several sects; for, agreeing in general princi- ples, they differed widely among themselves as to their manner of viewing and explaining particular doctrines; and their dis- sensions gave their adversaries many advantages in the contest. From sundry passages in the apostolic writings,* it may be justly inferred that the Gnosis had affected Christianity within * Col. ii. 8. 1 Tim. i. 3, 4 ; iv. l,seq.; vi. 20. 2 Tim.iL.16. Tit.iii. 9. I I 274 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. a very few years from the date of its first promulgation. It was not, however, till the second century, and the reign of Hadrian, that the Gnostics began to form themselves into sects, and became formidable to the church. We will now enumerate the principal founders of these sects, and state their leading tenets. J^ At the head of the Gnostic heretics is usually placed Si- mon Magus, who is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles ; but it is extremely doubtful if he be the Gnostic teacher ; and at all events he was an open enemy, and not a secret corrupter of Christianity. The same obscurity hangs over Menander and Cerinthus, who are regarded as his successors. The two former are said to have been Samaritans, the latter a Jew. All studied at Alexandria, and all held the leading Gnostic tenets. Cerinthus, however, manifested some re- spect for the law of Moses, declaring that such parts of it as Christ had sanctioned should be observed. He also thought more favorably than the Gnostics in general of the creator of the world, who, according to him, had acted in creation con- formably to the will of the supreme Deity. He did not, therefore, regard matter as absolutely evil, or deny the resurrection. According to him, the man Jesus was born in the natural way of Joseph and Mary, and the yEon Christ descended on him, at his baptism, in the form of a dove ; and previous to the crucifixion, the JEon returned to the Pleroma, leaving the man to suffer the pains of the cross. There ap- pear to be no grounds for charging Cerinthus with immoral- ity of either life or doctrine. His errors were those of the head rather than of the heart. Saturninus, a native of Antioch, was a Gnostic philoso- pher, who embraced Christianity in the second century. He taught that Satan, the ruler of matter, was coeval with the Deity ; that the world was created by seven angels, without the knowledge of the Deity, who, however, was not dis- pleased when he saw it, and breathed into man a rational soul; that he then divided the world into seven districts, of which he committed the government to the creating angels, one of whom was over the Hebrew nation, and gave it a law through Moses. Satan, he said, enraged at the creation of the world, and the virtue of its inhabitants, formed another race of men out of matter, with malignant souls like his own ; and hence arose the great moral differences to be observed among men. After a time, the founders of the world re- belled against God, who sent his Son on earth, arrayed in GNOSTIC HERESIES. \^ 275 an apparent body, to deliver the souls of good men from both them and Satan. The moral discipline of Saturninus was ascetic and severe ; he discouraged marriage ; he en- joined abstinence from wine and flesh-meat ; and taught to keep under the body, as being formed from matter which was in its essence evil and corrupt. While Saturninus was spreading his doctrines in Syria, an Alexandrian philosopher, named Basilides, who had em- braced Christianity, was engaged in diffusing a somewhat similar system through Egypt. The leading principles of Gnosticism formed the basis of his system also, in which the Deity and the seven ^Eons farmed a sacred Ogdoad. Two of these iEons, named Wisdom (Sophia) and Power, (Dyna- mis,) generated certain princes, or angels, who, having founded a heaven for themselves, generated other inferior angels, who, in their turn, formed a heaven and generated angels, and the process went on till the number of heavens was three hundred and sixty-five, which were all under the dominion of a supreme lord, who bore the mystic name of Abraxas.* The prince of the last of these heavens, which lay on the confines of the eternal matter, conceived the idea of reducing it to form, which he effected with the aid of his angels. The origin of the vice and misery of man being explained in the usual way, but of course with some varia- tions, Basilides affirmed that Mind, or Intelligence, {NoP?,) the first of the seven vEons, was directed by the Deity to descend on earth, and put an end to the dominion of the presiding angels, and restore the knowledge of his father among them. He therefore took the semblance of a body, and, when the god of the Jews caused him to be condemned to death, he adopted that of Simon the Cyrenaean, who was compelled to bear his cross ; and it thus was Simon, and not Jesus, who, in reality, was crucified. The souls of those who obeyed the precepts of Christ would, at death, pass to the realms of supreme bliss ; those of the disobedient would migrate into the bodies of men and other animals. The body being composed of matter, which was incapable of pu- rity, would never be raised. The moral system of Basilides was extremely rigorous. He asserted the utmost freedom of the will, declared that God would forgive no offences but those that were involuntary, and regarded the inclination to * That is, 365 ; for the letters of it, taken as numerals, give that num- ber. Of such nonsense is mysticism usually composed 276 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. any sin as identical with the actual commission of it. Some of the followers of Basilides, however, abusing the maxim that " to the pure all things are pure," and asserting that the soul is unaffected by the acts of its material companion, plunged into vice and licentiousness. Another Alexandrian, named Carpocrates, the contemporary of Basilides, also became the founder of a sect. His theo- locrical principles appear not to iiave differed much from the ordinary Gnostic ones. Writers are unanimous in describing his moral system as licentious in the extreme. In their accounts there is, probably, as usual, much exaggeration; but it is certain that he held that there was no natural dis- tinction between good and evil ; and that women, and all other thino-s, should be common. We know not, however, how these principles may have been modified, so as to make them accord with the notions of the Deity, and the necessity of virtue, common to him with all the Gnostic sects. The reputation and influence of these heresiarchs were far eclipsed by those of Valentine, another Alexandrian, and a presbyter of the church. After spreading his system among his countrymen, he went to Rome, where he made such a number of proselytes, that the church, in alarm, excommuni- cated him as a heretic. He then took up his abode in the isle of Cyprus, and openly became the head of a sect which was soon very widely diffused. The system of Valentine, as transmitted to us by the an- cient Fathers, is so intricate that we cannot undertake to give an account of it. It also, in wildness and absurdity, seems to transcend all others; but, no doubt, many things have been misunderstood ; and to others Valentine might have been able to give a tolerably rational appearance. He placed in the Pleroma thirty /Eons, fifteen of either sex, which he divided into three orders. To these he added four others of a different nature. Two of these last were named Christ and Holy Ghost; and the last of the ^ons was Jesus, the most noble of them, who was formed by the united efforts of all the others. One of the female yEons, named Sophia, produced a daughter, who was called Acha- moth, and who, being expelled from the Pleroma, became, by a long and intricate course, the origin of the world, the his- tory of whose creation, and of the nature of man, is related with more complexity than in the other Gnostic systems, with which that of Valentine agrees in all the main points. The moral system founded on this theology by Valentine, wa3 GNOSTICS. ^^^_ 277 strict, and free from impurity ; but many of his followers made it sanction their sensuality and vice. Many other sects, founded on the doctrine of the two prin- ciples, are enumerated by ancient writers ; but as they never were of any importance, we need not notice them. The •names of Bardesanes, Tatian, and Marcion, however, demand some attention. Bardesanes was a Christian of Edossa, and a writer in the defence of his faith in the time of Marcus Aurelius. He adopted and modified the Oriental doctrine, and became the founder of a sect ; but he aftcrwnrds returned to the church, and opposed his own doctrines. Tatian, a native of Assyria, was also a writer in the cause of his relicrion ; and, in like manner, he embraced the doctrine of the two principles. His exact theological tenets arc not known, but his moral system was ascetic in the extreme ; for he enjoined his dis- ciples to renounce wedlock, abstain from animal food, and live in solitude, on the slightest and most meagre diet, and even to use water instead of wine in the Lord's Supper. Marcion, the son of a bishop in Pontus, being excommunica- ted by his own father for either his immorality or his heresy, came to Rome: where, beinw unable to obtain readmission into the church, he joined a Syrian named Cerdo, and be- came the head of a sect which spread widely and continued long. His system contained the usual doctrine of the two opposite principles, and of the separate creator of the world, and of the unreal body of Christ. His rule of life was ascetic, and so severe as to make death an object of desire, rather than of apprehension. On taking a general view of the different modifications of Gnosticism, we find them all afrreeino- in recocrnizins the eternity of matter; in regarding the founder of the world as totally distinct from the supreme Deity ; in believing the bodies of men to have been formed by the former being, while their souls proceeded from the latter ; and in maintain- ing tliat the body, when once dissolved by death, would never be reanimated ; while the soul, if it flung off the yoke of the creator of the world, would ascend to the realms of light and happiness. The Asiatic Gnostics, holding to the ancient Oriental principle, believed in the existence of a separate prince of matter, the author of evil ; but this prince was un- known to the systems of the Egyptian Gnostics, who, on the other hand, introduced into them Egyptian notions respect- CONTIN. 24 278 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. incr the heavens, the stars, the descent and ascent of souls, and similar fancies. The asceticism which springs from the doctrine of the evil nature of matter, and the consequent necessity of deliv- ering the soul from the influence of the body, lies at the foundation of the greater part of the errors and corruptions into which the church fell. The Mosaic law, notwithstand- ing its numerous ceremonial observances, was a cheerful system; and Christianity, that "perfect law of liberty," as it is most justly called, is decidedly opposed to all austerity and rigor. Yet we find, even in the second century, the germs of those opinions and practices which gradually brought in monkery and its attendant evils. At this time appeared in Phrygia a heretic named Montanus, whose opinions were em- braced by Tertullian, one of the most distinguished Fathers of the church at the time, and whose system imbodied many of the rigorous principles above alluded to, which had hith- erto been little more than the peculiar notions of individ- ual Christians. This visionary (for such he appears to have been) conceived that the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete promised to the apostles, had descended on himself, for the purpose of empowering him to foretell future events, and establishing a more rigorous system of morals than that founded on the precepts of Christ and his apostles. He drew over numbers to his opinions, among whom were two wealthy women named Priscilla and Maximilla, from the former of whom the sect received one of its appellations, that of Priscillianists. His disciples, as well as himself, pretended to the gift of proph- ecy, and the sect spread rapidly through the empire. The bishops of Asia excommunicated Montanus and his followers, and their example was followed by the prelates in other parts; but the sect continued to exist in a separate state. The principal features in the doctrine of Montanus were the injunction of a greater frequency, and greater rigor, in fasting, than had as yet prevailed in the church ; * the for- bidding of second marriages; the absolute and irrevocable excommunication of adulterers, as well as of murderers and idolaters; the requiring virgins, as well as widows and wives, (to whom the usage had hitherto been confined,) to wear veils; the forbidding Christians, in time of persecution, to seek their safety in flight, or purchase it from the heathen • The only fast hitherto observed in the church was that of Passion- week. THE PASCHAL FEAST. \ 279 magistrates. Montanus, also, as may be inferred from the writings of his follower Tertullian, prohibited all kinds of costly attire, and ornaments of the person, and discouraged the cultivation of letters and philosophy. In all these opin- ions, as we have said, he did little more than enforce prin- ciples which had long been held by the more rigorous members of the church; but while these had maintained them in a spirit of meekness and charity, he arrogantly im- posed them as the dictates of the Holy Spirit, whom, con- sequently, those who refused to submit to these trifling and irrational precepts, would incur the guilt of resisting. This, combined with his absurd and dangerous prophecies, fully, we think, justified the church in refusing to hold communion with him. Another source of heresy, in this period, was the nature of Christ. Praxeas, an opponent of Montanus, denied all distinction between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and affirmed that it was the Father, the sole God, that took a human body in the person of Christ. Hence his follow- ers were named Monarchians and Patripassians. On the other hand, Theodotus and Artemon denied the divinity of Christ, and maintained that his superior excellence was solely owing to his body being divinely begotten. The dispute of greatest magnitude in the church, during this period, was that respecting the Paschal feast, or day of the institution of the Lord's Supper. This the Asiatic Christians kept on the fourteenth day of the first Jewish month, the day of the Passover, alleging the authority of the apostles Piiilip and John. But as this interrupted the great fast of Passion-week observed by the church, all the other Christians deferred it till the eve of the day of the resurrec- tion, resting on the authority of the apostles Peter and Paul. As the day of the Passover was variable, depending on the moon, (the Jewish months being lunar,) there was this fur- ther inconvenience, that the third day from it, that of the resurrection, did not always fall on the first day of the week, the day fixed by the church for its observance. Various attempts having therefore been made, to no purpose, to get rid of this anomaly, toward the close of the second centu- ry, Victor, bishop of Rome, supported by several provincial councils, wrote in very dictatorial terms to the churches of Asia, requiring them to conform to the practice of the other churches; and, when thev returned a spirited refusal, he was proceeding to excommunicate them, when Irenajus, bishop 280 THE CHRISTIAN CHUBCH. of Gaul, interposed, and a compromise was efTected. The Asiatics, however, retained their peculiar usage till the time of the council of Nicaea. We will now proceed to notice the government and doc- trines of the church during the second and third centuries. Each church, i. e. congregation, with its bishop and pres- byters, was independent, forming a little republic, presided over by magistrates chosen by the people, and each meas- ure of moment was decided by the popular voice. These churches were at first confined to the cities and towns ; but, gradually, as the faith was spread among the country people, churches were formed in the villages, over whicli were set presbyters, sent by the church in the adjacent city or large town, who exercised nearly all the functions of the bishop, and were therefore named Chorepiscopi, i. e. rural bishops. These daughter-churches were, however, like all others, independent ; but they testified a filial reverence for the church which had founded them, and whose authority they in some sort recognized. By degrees, it became the practice for the churches of a province to form themselves into an association, and to hold conventions for the discus- sion of matters of common interest, at which the churches were represented by their bishops. This practice is said to have originated in Greece ; and it is easy to recognize the resemblance between these Synods, (^u^oJoi,) as they were called by the Greeks, or Councils, {Concilia,) as they were styled by the Latins, and the ancient Amphictyonies, and the Synods of the Achiean and iEtolian Leagues.* The laws and regulations made in these assemblies were termed Canons, (/Cd/'OJ'fc,) i. e. rules. The introduction of these councils caused a great alter- ation in the constitution of the church. The original rights of the people became, in consequence of them, nearly eva- nescent, for every matter of imjjortance was now determined by the councils. On the other hand, the dignity and au- thority of the prelates was proportionably enlarged. Their tone grew bolder, and they now spoke of themselves as the legitimate successors of the apostles, and empowered to im- pose laws by their own authority. The primitive equality among the bishops themselves also disappeared ; for, as it was necessary that a council should have a president, the office was bestowed on the bishop of the chief city of the * See History of Greece, pp. 24 and 440. GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH. 281 province, which city was naturally selected as the Inost ap- propriate place for holding the council. Hence arose the title and dignity of Metropolitan ; and further, as councils Ijecauie more extensive, and began to include the prelates of more provinces than one, it was deemed expedient to have a chief for each division of the earth included in the Roman empire ; and a tacit superiority was therefore conceded to the bishops of Rome, Antioch, and Alexandria, with prece- dence to the first, on account of the greater dignity of the city in which he resided. These three ecclesiastical poten- tates were afterwards named Patriarchs. In this manner, from the smallest beginnings, arose the Hierarchy of the church, which, in course of time, attained to such an as- tounding eminence. The high authority of the Hebrew Scriptures enabled the ministers of the church to enlarge their pretensions to au- thority. They conceived or represented themselves to have succeeded to all the rights of the Jewish priesthood. The bishop accordingly claimed the rights and authority of the high-priest; the presbyters those of the ordinary priests; the deacons those of the Levites. Hence followed the de- mand of tithes and first-fruits, which there is abundant rea- son to suppose was made even before the third century. It is not unlikely that it was also these Jewish notions that gave origin to the distinction of clergy and laity,* which very early prevailed in the church. In the third century we find among the clergy a variety of inferior officers, such as Sub-deacons, Acolyths, (^attend- ants,) Ostiaries, (door-keepers,) Readers, and Exorcists. As these performed duties which had hitherto been discharged by the deacons, we see nothing improbable in the supposition that they were indebted for their origin to the pride of these last-named ministers, who now confined themselves to the more honorable functions of their office, devolving the more menial ones on an inferior class of persons. Perhaps, how- ever, the more simple solution will be found in the principle of the division of labor, which the great increase of the church may now have called into operation. Such, then, was the appearance presented by the Chris- tian church at the close of the third century. The distinc- tion was drawn clear and broad between the clergy and the laity ; the former forming an order variously subdivided, * KXtiqixolf from xiMOf, lot or office; Xaixol, from Xahg, people. 24* J J 282 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. and claiming peculiar privileges. Were we to adopt the assertions of Cyprian, Eusebius, and other Christian writers, who find the causes of all the persecutions in the vices of the clergy, we should view them as utterly depraved ; but these writers indulged too much in rhetorical exaggeration to deserve implicit credit; and though it must be conce- ded, that pride, ambition, avarice, luxury, and other vices, defiled the purity of the Christian priesthood, the truth is probably contained in the assertion of Origen, that, though such was undoubtedly the case, the preeminence, in point of virtue, in the Christian ministers, as compared with the heathen magistrates and other persons in office, was incon- testable. They were, in fact, men, and, as such, of different degrees of moral worth; if some were eminently bad, others were as eminently good, and the great majority indifferent. Finally, to repeat an observation already made, the errors or vices of its professors cannot be laid to the charge of the Christian religion. The first Christians, mostly selected from the humbler walks of life, had been ignorant or careless of literature and phi- losophy ; but, in the course of time, philosophers were num- bered among the converts to Christianity, and their attempts at making it harmonize with their previous notions, were a principal cause of its corruption. We have already shown this in the case of the Gnostics ; and we shall now briefly exhibit the influence of the philosophy of Greece on the doctrines of the church. The first philosopher who appears to have joined the Christian society, was Justin, named the Martyr. He was a Platonist; and such also were most of the other Christian philosophers, for the tenets of Plato were those which ap- peared most akin to the doctrines of the gospel. But it was the Eclectic Platonism of Alexandria that was chiefly fol- lowed by the Christians, who had a seminary in that city, named the Catechetic School, which was successively pre- sided over by Panttenus, Athenagoras, and Clement, and in which the attempt was made to bring religion and philosophy into unison. A contest prevailed between the followers of this system and the advocates for gospel simplicity ; but the victory was on the side of the former, and the formation, toward the end of the second century, of the sect of the New Platonists, by the celebrated Ammonius Saccas, as- sured their triumph and the corruption of the gospel. The learned among the Christians now began, like the Gnostics, CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY. 283 to maintain, that in the Scriptures there was, besiae the lite- ral sense, a latent and higher one; for thus only could their narratives and precepts be made to accord wit'^ the new philosopliic ideas. In tliis they followed the example of the Jewish Platonist, Philo, who had already employed this sys- tem to some extent ; and any one who peruses his writings, or those of Justin, Clement of Alexandria, and the other early Christian philosophers, will easily perceive how widely it departs from all the principles of sane interpretation. As, however, many saw the danger of making such high matters known to the simple and ignorant, the plan of the old Egyp- tian priesthood was adopted, and the principles of their re- ligion were taught to the people with ail plainness and sim- plicity, while the philosophic interpretation was reserved for the more advanced in faith, and even to them only commu- nicated orally. Hence arose what has been termed the Se- cret Discipline, {DiscipUna Arcani ;) that is, in effect, mystic theology. Hence, too, followed a similar distinction in mor- als ; there was one rule for the multitude, another for the aspirants to higher sanctity and to perfection. These last were, on the Gnostic principles already explained, to seek retirement and mortify the flesh, avoiding marriage and all indulgence of the senses; while the former were left to five like other men, to engage in the affairs of the world, and become the fathers and mothers of families. This was the origin of hermits, monks, and coenobites, of whom we shall hereafter treat more largely. A twofold distinction in the discipline and ceremonies of the church speedily followed. These philosophizing Chris- tians, reflecting on the mysteries of the heathen religions, thought that it would be becoming to have somethiniT sim- ilar in the church. The laity was therefore divided into the Profane and the Initiated or Faithful ; the former, who had either not been yet baptized, (such being named Catechu- mens or learners,*) or those who for some offence had been expelled from the communion of the Faithful, were only ad- mitted to a portion of the divine service; while the latter enjoyed all the rights and privileges of the full Christian, voting in the assemblies, being present at all parts of the service, and partaking of the Agapse or Love-feasts, and of the Lord's Supper. A holy silence toward the profane respecting these imistcries was required from them. The * Ol xari]xov^icvoi, the being instructed. 284 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. terms belonging to the heathen mysteries were freely and fondly employed, and baptism and the Eucharist were re- garded as of the most awful import, and far removed from their original simplicity. In the former, which was publicly administered every year, at Easter and Whitsuntide, by the bishop or presbyters, the persons to be baptized, after they had repeated the creed and confessed, and renounced their sins, were immersed in water, signed with the cross, anoint- ed, and by prayer and imposition of hands dedicated to God. They then, in token of the new birth, received milk and honey, and the ceremony thus concluded. The Lord's Sup- per was administered every Sunday. A portion of the bread which formed a part of the ordinary oblations of the faithful, was separated, and was consecrated by the prayers of the bishop ; and it then was divided and distributed, as also was the wine when it had been previously mixed with water.* A portion of both the elements was sent to those who were sick or absent. This rite was regarded as absolutely neces- sary to salvation, and there appears reason to believe that even in the second century the superstition respecting it was such as to cause it to be administered to infants. It is manifest, that in form, in discipline, and in doctrine, the church was no longer what it had been in the days of the apostles. Some of the changes were the necessary conse- quence of the progress of time and the alteration of circum- stances ; but others, and by far the greater in number, and most pernicious in effect, had been introduced in imitation of the Jewish hierarchy, of the mysteries of the heathen re- ligion, and its rites and ceremonies, or from the desire to make Christianity correspond with the philosophy of the East, or with that of Plato. Though the effect was inju- rious, the motives of the authors of the changes were, in general, pure, and they acted more from ignorance than design. During this period, the church began to have a literature of its own. The apostolic Fathers, (as those are named who had been contemporaneous with any of the apostles,) Clement of Rome, Barnabas, Hermas, Ignatius, and Poly- carp, have left some writings, all, with the exception of a trifling allegory, the Shepherd of Hermas, in the epistolary form. But some are spurious, and others have suffered from * B?ood and water having flowed from the side of Jesus when he was pierced with the spear. FATHERS OF TILE CHURCH. / 285 interpolation ; and they are of little value, except a^ witnesses of the doctrine of the church in their time. Their immense inferiority to those of St. Paul is very striking. In the sec- ond century flourished Justin Martyr, Athenagoras, and Theophilus, who wrote Apologies or defences of the Chris- tian religion, beside treatises on various subjects. Irena^us, bishop of Lyons, in Gaul, has left a work, in five books, against heresies, whence we chiefly derive our knowledge of them. Clement of Alexandria, a man of great learning, but too eager to find the heathen philosophy in the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, was the author of numerous works; three of which, namely, the Paidagogue, the Exhortation, and the Stromata, or Patchwork, have come down to our times. The only Latin writer remaining from this century is Ter- tullian, bishop of Carthage, a man of vigorous capacity, but feeble in judgment, and morose and melancholy in temper. His style possesses strength, but wants elegance ; and his arguments are rather rhetorical, than correct and con- vmcmg. The principal Greek writers of the third century were Julius Africanus, Dionysius the Great, bishop of Alexandria, Gregory, bishop of New Caesarea, (named Thaumaturgus, i, e. Wonder-worker, from the miracles which he was said to have wrought,) Methodius, and Hippolytus; but their works, which were not of a high order, have mostly perished. Far superior to all of this or the preceding age was Origen, a presbyter of Alexandria, a man of most extensive learning, of profound piety, and of high talent ; but in whom, as in most of the Fathers, imagination largely preponderated over judgment. The Latin writers of this century were Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, and the two apologists, Arnobius and Minu- cius Felix. Cyprian was pious and eloquent ; but his style is too rhetorical, and his temper was too haughty and over- bearing. HISTORY OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. PART III. THE CHRISTIAN EMPERORS. CHAPTER L* DIOCLETIAN AND MAXIMIAN. A. u. 1038—1 058. A. D. 285—305. STATE OF THE EMPIRE. CHARACTER OF DIOCLETIAN. IM- PERIAL POWER DIVIDED. THE BAGAUDS. — CARAUSIUS. REBELLION IN EGYPT. PERSIAN WAR. TRIUMPH OF THE EMPERORS. THEIR RESIGNATION. PERSECUTION OF THE CHURCH. The Roman empire had now lasted for three centuries. During that period, the forms of the republic under which the policy of Augustus had concealed the despotism of the imperial rule, had been silently laid aside, and the people were become accustomed to the display of arbitrary power, upheld by the arms of the soldiery. Occasionally, a faint gleam of the ancient Roman spirit broke forth, as in the time of the emperor Tacitus ; but the general aspect pre- sented by the inhabitants of the Eternal City, as it now began to be called, was that of a sensual, enervated nobility, and a beggarly, turbulent populace. The provinces, enjoy- * Authorities : The Epitomators, the Panegyrists, and Lactantius. A. D. 285.] CHARACTER OF DIOCLETIAN. I 287 ing the rights of which Rome had once been so jealous, exliibited more of virtue and of vigor; and nearly all the emperors, for the two last centuries, had been provincials by origin. While the civil condition of the empire was thus undergoing inevitable change, its ancient systems of religion were fast receding before that of the gospel, and an expe- rienced eye might easily discern that the final triumph of the latter was certain. We are now to witness that triumph, to behold, at the same time, the Roman emperors assuming the pomp and parade of the monarchs of the East, the irruptions of the barbarians becoming every day more formidable, and the empire of the West finally sinking beneath their attacks. Diocletian, into whose hands the empire had now fallen, was another of those able Illyrian peasants whom their own talents and merits had raised to the height of imperial pow- er. He is said to have been the freedman, or the son of a freedman, of a Roman senator named Anulinus. The place of his birth was a small town in Dalmatia.* He entered the army, and gradually rose to the post of commander of the body-guards, which he held when the votes of his com- panions in arms invested him with the purple. Good sense and prudence were the distinguishing features in the character of the new emperor. His courage was calm and collected, rather than impetuous ; and he never employed force where policy could avail. In this, as in some other points, he re- sembled Augustus ; and the personal courage of both has accordingly been called into question by malignant or super- ficial observers. The empire which Augustus had founded Diocletian remodelled, and his name stands at the head of a new order of things. Diocletian used his victory over Carinus with a modera- tion which had never hitherto been equalled. None of the adherents of his adversary suffered in life, fortune, or honor. Though unversed in letters, and ignorant of the philosophy of the schools, he appreciated the mild philosophy of M. Au- relius, and declared his intention of making him his model in the art of government. In imitation of that emperor, or, more probably, from the suggestion of his own sound judg- ment, he resolved to give himself a partner in the empire. The extensive frontiers of the Roman dominion were now * Its name is supposed to have been Doclia, from a tribe of Illyrians, and his own name was probably Docles, which he Hellenized to Dio- des, and then Latinized to Diocletianus. See Gibbon, ch. xiii. The Gentile name of his patron was apparently Valerius. 288 DIOCLETIAN AND MAXIMIAN. [a. D. 236-287. SO constantly and so vigorously assailed by the Persians and Germans, that no single person could attend to their defence; and experience had shown that generals intrusted with the command of large armies, might become the rivals of their sovereigns. The person whom Diocletian fixed on as his colleague was his ancient mate in arms, Maximianus, who, born a peasant in the district of Sirmium, had, like himself, risen solely by merit. A second Marius, Maximian was rude, brutal, and ferocious, a brave soldier, an able officer, but neither a general nor a statesman of any account. For the superior wisdom and knowledge of Diocletian, he had the utmost respect, and he always stood in awe of his genius. It is remarkable that Diocletian was able to exer- cise as much influence over the rude Maximian, as Aurelius had possessed over the luxurious Verus — a proof, perhaps, of his greater force of mind. Diocletian first conferred on his friend the dignity of a Caesar, and then raised him to the more elevated rank of an Augustus, (Apr. 1, 286.) On this occasion, the emperors assumed, the one the surname of Jovius, the other that of Herculius, in allusion to their different characters, and the parts they were to bear in the state. Diocletian retained for himself the administration of the provinces of the East, and fixed on Nicomedia as his place of residence; to Max- imian he assigned those of the West, and Milan became his imperial abode. In the following year, (287,) Maximian found employment for his arms in suppressing an insurrection of the peasantry of Gaul, who, under the name of Bagauds, a term of dubious origin,* were spreading devastation through the country. It is remarkable that, at all periods of her history, France has presented the spectacle of a rural population reduced to the extreme of misery by the oppression of an aristocracy, or of the government. Predial servitude to a tyrannic nobility was the condition in which the Romans found the Gallic peasantry ; under their own dominion, the same system was continued, and the evil was aggravated by the weight of taxation, and the insolence of a haughty soldiery. The Franks and other German conquerors succeeded to this power, and transmitted it to the feudal lords of the middle ages, with whose descendants it continued to the close of the * It is derived by some from the Celtic Bagad, a tumultuous as- sembly. A. D. 289.] THE BAGAUDS. \ 289 eighteenth century ; and, in consequence of the extreme di- vision of landed property which lias since taken placeT^rrd the high direct taxes imposed on the proprietors, the govern- ment appears likely to become, ere long, the owner of the far greater part of the produce of the soil, and the cultiva- tors to sink gradually to the condition of the serfs, their ancestors. Thejarqurric, or insurrection of the French peasantry, in the fourteenth century, as narrated in the graphic and ani- mated pages of Froissart, will enable us to form a conception of the rising of the Bagauds, in the fourth century. In both cases, the insurgents were unable to make head against the fully-armed troops opposed to them ; in both, the vengeance taken on them was cruel and remorseless. The leaders of the Bagauds, named ^lianus and Aman- dus, had assumed the imperial ensigns; their coins may still be seen ; but their ambition was short-lived. A more fortu- nate usurper appeared in Britain. The Franks and other German tribes of the north coast having now begun to ad- dict themselves to piracy, a Roman fleet was stationed at Boulogne, {Bononio,) in order to protect the coasts of Gaul and Britain from their ravages. The command of this fleet was given to Carausius, a native of that country, {i. e. a Me- napian,) a man of very low origin, but skilled in navigation, and of approved courage. It was soon discovered that the pirates used to pass down the channel unobserved or unmo- lested, but that they were apt to be intercepted on their re- turn, and that a considerable part of the booty gained from them never found its way into the imperial treasury. Max- imian, convinced of the guilt of the admiral, gave orders for his death ; but the fleet was devoted to Carausius, and he passed with it over to Britain, and, having induced the legion and the auxiliaries stationed there to declare for him, he boldly assumed the purple ; and the emperors, after some fruitle-ss attempts to reduce him, were obliged (289) to ac- knowledge his rank and title. It soon appeared that even two emperors would not suffice for the defence of the provinces, and Diocletian resolved to associate two other generals in the imperial power. Under the title of Caesars, they were to rank beneath the emperors, but their power was to be absolute in the parts of the empire assigned them. The persons selected were Galerius Ma.x- imianus, a native of Dacia named Armentarius, from his CONTIN. 25 K K • 290 DIOCLETIAN AND MAXIMIAN. [a. D. 296. original employment of a herdsman, and Constantius,* a grand-nephew in the female line of the emperor Claudius. The former was, as might be expected, rude and martial; the latter, though a soldier from his youth, was polished in manners, and mild and amiable in temper. Perhaps it was in imitation of the policy of Augustus, that Diocletian re- quired the Caesars to divorce their wives and marry the daughters of himself and his colleague. He bestowed the hand of his own daughter Valeria on Galerius, and Theo- dora, the stepdaughter of Maximian, became the wife of Constantius. For himself Diocletian reserved Thrace, Egypt, and the Asiatic provinces, while his Caesar Galerius governed those on the Danube ; Maximian held Italy and Africa ; his Csesar Constantius had charge of Spain, Gaul, and Britain. The power of Carausius, the ruler of this last-named island, was now at its height; by repressing the incursions of the Caledonians and the invasions of the Germans, he pre- served internal tranquillity ; his fleets rode triumphant on the ocean, and he still retained Boulogne and its district on the continent. But the loss of a rich province was galling to the pride and the dignity of the empire, and Constantius undertook the task of reducing the British ruler, (292.) By running a mole across the harbor of Boulogne, he obliged that town and a great part of the usurper's fleet to surrender. While he was preparing a fleet for the invasion of the island, he received intelligence of the death of Carausius, who was assassinated (294) by Allectus, his principal minister. The murderer assumed the vacant power and dignity, and more than two years elapsed before Constantius had assembled a fleet and army sufficient to attempt the recovery of the island. At length, (296,) he prepared to invade it in three separate places. The first division, under the praetorian prefect As- clepiodotus, put to sea on a stormy day, and by the favor of a fog having escaped the fleet of Allectus, which lay oflf the Isle of Wight, effected a landing in the West. As soon as his troops had debarked, the prefect set fire to his ship- ping. Allectus, who had taken his station with a large army at London, to await the arrival of Constantius, hastened to the West; but his troops were few and dispirited, and after a " He ia usually named Chlorus, from his pallid hue, as it would appear, though the Panegyrist (v. 19) speaks of" his rubor. Tillemont Bays that it is only in the later Greek writers that his name Chlorus appears. A. D. 296, j PERSIAN WAR. \ 291 brief conflict he was defeated and slain.* Constantius/when he landed, met with no opposition; and this noble island was thus, after a separation of ten years, reunited to the empire. Africa and Egypt gave at tiiis time occupation to the two emperors. In the former, a man named Julian assumed the purple at Carthage, and five confederated Moorisli tribes in- vaded the province. But, on the appearance of Maximian, Julian stabbed himself, and the Moors were easily defeated, and forced to abandon their mountain fastnesses. In Egypt, one Achilleus had assumed tlie purple at Alexandria, and the Blemmyans were ravaging the valley of the Upper Nile. Diocletian sat down with a large army before Alexandria : he cut off the aqueducts which supplied it with water, and strongly secured his camp against the sallies of the besieged ; and after eight months the rebellious city was obliged to sur- render at discretion. A severe vengeance was taken, and many thousands of the inhabitants were slaughtered ; the cities of Busiris and Coptos were totally destroyed, and all Egypt suffered by sentences of death or exile. To oppose an effectual barrier to the incursions of the Blemmyans, the emperor induced the Nobetae or Nubians to quit their abodes in the deserts, and settle in the country about Syene and the Cataracts, which he resigned to them on the condition of their guarding that frontier of the empire. While he re- mained in Egypt, Diocletian made many wise laws and regu- lations, calculated to promote the happiness and prosperity of the country. t A war ensued with Persia, on account of Armenia. We have seen that, from the time of Augustus, the Roman em- perors had claimed and exercised the right of bestowing the investiture of that kingdom. After the defeat, however, of Valerian, the Persian monarch, having caused the Armenian king Chosroes to be assassinated, had made himself master of the country. Tiridates, the infant son of the murdered monarch, was saved by his friends, and committed to the care of the Roman emperors. He grew up strong, active, dex- terous in the use of arms, and undauntedly courageous ; and * Compare the invasion of Enjrland by William the Norman. t Ainonor others, he directed thiit a strict search should be made " for all the ancient books which treated of the admirable art of making gold and silver," and connnit*ed them to the flames. This is the earliest mention of the vain science of .alchemy. See Gibbon, [chap, xiii.] This folly still prevails in the East. See Eraser's Travels in Koordis- tan, &c., for an instance at the present day. 292 DIOCLETIAN AND MAXIMIAN. [a. D. 296-297. he won the warm friendship of Licinius, the sworn mate and friend of Galerius. At the instance of tliis last, Diocletian declared Tiridates king of Armenia; and as soon as the new monarch appeared on the frontiers, (2SG,) the Armenians, weary of the insults and oppression of the Persians, received him with transports of joy. The Persian garrisons were speedily driven out of the country; and, as a civil war was raging at the time among the Sassanian princes, Tiridates was able not only to recover Armenia, but to carry his arms into Assyria. When, however, the civil conflict terminated, and Narses was acknowledcred kintr of Persia, the whole force of the empire was turned against the revolted Armenians, and Tiridates was once more obliged to seek the protection of the Roman emperors. As the language of Narses now became insolent and menacing, and prudence and honor alike demanded the restoration of Tiridates, Diocletian prepared for war, (296.) Fixing his own abode at Antioch, he committed the conduct of the war to Galerius, whom he had summoned for the purpose from the banks of the Danube. Galerius crossed the Euphrates, and entered on the plains of Mesopotamia. After some indecisive fighting, the clouds of Persian cavalry enveloped his army, which was far inferior in number, on the very ground which, more than three centuries before, had wit- nessed the defeat and death of Crassus. The Romans sus- tained a total overthrow ; and Galerius, when he reached Antioch, had the mortification to be received with cold aus- terity by Diocletian, whose chariot he had to follow on foot, in his imperial purple, for the length of a mile. A new army, however, was soon formed from the troops of lUyricum and the Gothic auxiliaries; and Galerius, at the head of 2.5,000 gallant soldiers, was permitted again to try his fortune, (297.) Warned by experience, he now shunned the plains, and advanced through the mountains of Armenia. In person, attended by only two horsemen, he undertook the perilous task of exploring the strength and the dispositions of the hostile force. lie then made a sudden attack on the Persian camp ; the rout of the enemy was instantaneous and complete. Narses, who was wounded in the action, fled to Media ; the Persian camp, replete with riches, became the prey of the victors ; * the monarch's own harem fell into the * A Roman soldier, it is said, meeting with a leathern bag full of pearls, threw away the latter, of which he could not conceive the use, A. D. 303.] PERSIAN WAR. \293 hands of the Romans; and rude as was the nature of Gale- rius, his treatment of the royal ladies equalled that of Alex- ander the Great, on a similar occasion. Diocletian, when he heard of this great victory, set out from Antioch, and met the now elated Galerius at Nisibis. Here they were soon waited on by Apharban, a person high in the confidence of the Persian monarch, with proposals for a treaty of peace. After an interview with the emperors, the Persian was dis- missed with an assurance that Narses should speedily be informed of the terms on which peace mi^ht be obtained. The secretary, Sicorius Probus, accordingly soon after appeared in the Persian camp, and peace was concluded on tlie following conditions: All the northern Mesopotamia was to be resigned to the Romans, and the River Aboras* was to form the boundary of the two empires in that country ; five provinces beyond the Tigris t were also to be ceded to the Romans ; Tiridates was to be restored, and his dominions augmented ; the kings of Iberia to be nominated by the Roman emperors. The empire was now externally at rest ; the revolted prov- inces had been recovered, and the frontiers extended ; Dio- cletian, therefore, took the occasion of the commencement of the twentieth year of his reign (303) for celebrating a triumph for the victories obtained by his arms and under his auspices. For this purpose, he repaired t(^Rome, which he had not yet honored with his presence, and he and Maximian triumphed jointly, (Nov. 20,) for Africa, Egypt, Britain, and other countries, but more especially for Persia. The cere- mony displayed the usual pomp and magnificence; one cir- cumstance, unknown at the time, distinguished it from all others — it was the last real triumph that Rome was to witness. The importance of the eternal city had suffered a serious diminution by the altered circumstances of the empire, which demanded the presence of the sovereigns nearer to the frontiers. The senate lost the consideration which it had heretofore enjoyed ; the once formidable praetorian guards were greatly reduced in number and influence ; they ceased and kept the bag. Am. Marc. xxii. 4. The same story is told of one of the followers of the first Khalifs ; but the Arab previously tried to chew the pearls, taking them for grains of millet. * This river rose near the Tigris, ran by Singara, and entered the Euphrates at Circesium. f Namely, Zabdicene, Arzinene, Corduene, Moxoene, and Intiline. 25* 294 DIOCLETIAN, MAXIMIAN. [a. D. 304-305. to be the protectors of the imperial person, their place as such being occupied by two legions of the army of Illyricum, which were named Joviaus and Ilerculians, from the titles of the emperors. The stay of Diocletian, in this his first and last visit to the capital of the empire, did not exceed two months. The freedom and familiarity of the populace was harsh and un- pleasant to his ear, accustomed to the submissive adulation of Greeks and Orientals ; motives of policy may also have concurred to give him a distaste for Rome. He quitted that capital, therefore, in the midst of the winter, and proceeded through Illyricum to the East. The fatigue of the journey and the severity of the weather brought on a lingering ill- ness. He was obliged to travel by short stages, and mostly in a close litter, and he did not reach Nicomedia till toward the end of the summer, (304.) His illness had then become serious ; and it was not till the March of the following year (305) that he was able to appear in public. During his long confinement, he had reflected on the incompatibility of the cares of empire with the attention and indulgence which his advanced age and declining health demanded; and he adopted the resolution of resigning his imperial power, and retiring into private life. He communicated his intention to Maximian ; and, however adverse that restless emperor might be to parting with his power, he had been too loncp in the habit of submitting implicitly to the dictates of his wiser colleague to refuse compliance. On the same day, (May 1,) as had been previously arranged, both the emperors, the one at Nicomedia, the other at Milan, performed the ceremony of their abdication, and the Caesars Galerius and Constantius became emperors in their stead.* Diocletian retired to his native province of Dalmatia, where, in the neighborhood of the city of Salona, he built a magnificent palace, and em- ployed his hours in gardening and planting.t Maximian fixed his abode at a villa in Lucania, but we are not informed how he passed his days. The abdication of Diocletian is the earliest instance which * If we may credit the author of the work De Mortihus PerseciUo- rum, Galerius forced Diocletian to resign. t Diocletian survived his abdication about eight years. He died in 313. When urged by the instances of Ma.ximian and Galerius to re- sume his power, he replied, " I wish you could see the potherbs plant- ed by my own hands at Salona, and you would surely never think that power should be resumed." A. D. 305.] RESIGNATION OF EMPERORS. 295 history records of the voluntary relinquishment of sufireme power. It is the only one to be found in the .incient world; but examples, though rare, occur in modern times. That of the emperor Charles V. will present itself to the minds of most readers; but that monarch's abdication was the result of disappointed ambition, and his leisure was less nobly oc- cupied than that of the Roman emperor. The Turkish sultan Moorad J I. twice quitted his throne for the enjoy- ment of private life; but he was each time recalled to it by the dangers of the state. The Spanish king Philip V. also abandoned the pomp of royalty for the practice of devotion ; but the death of his son and successor obliired him to re- sume the sceptre. Devotion and other causes had, in ear- lier times, produced resignations among the princes of the states founded on the ruins of the Roman empire. It is rather remarkable that a prince like Diocletian, born in the humbler walks of life, and trained up in arms, should have been the introducer of Oriental usages into the palace of the Roman eujperors. But he seems to have been actua- ted by policy rather than pride or vanity ; he conceived that investing the emperor with the splendor of apparel, and rendering him dilhcult of access, would make him more venerable in the eyes of the multitude, and induce a more absolute submission to his will. He and his colleague, therefore, assumed the diadem, which ornament distin- guished them from theCajsars; the purple robes of the em- perors were of silk and gold, and their shoes were adorned with precious stones. Numerous officers attended at the palace, and the care of the interior apartments was com- mitted to eunuchs. When any one appeared before the emperor, he was required to Hill prostrate and worship him after the fashion of the East. This display of iniperial pomp, and the maintenance of four separate courts, caused an enormous increase of taxation, and consequent oppression of the people. We shall presently explain the whole of the altered imperial system more at length. Toward the end of the reign of Diocletian and Maximian, the last and greatest persecution of the Christian church commenced. Its origin was as follows : Christianity, as has been already observed, was now most widely spread, and Christians were to be found in all the ranks and conditions of society. Diocletian, though he himself adhered to the ancient faith, was tolerant, if not 296 DIOCLETIAN, MAXIMIAN. [a. D. 302. even favorable to the new religion, which his wife and daughter are said to have secretly embraced, and which was openly professed by the imperial eunuchs Lucianus, Doro- theus, Gorgonius, and Andreas, and by most of the principal officers of the palace. The Christian bishops were treated with respect, and new and more stately churches were rising in all the cities of the empire. But amid this seem- ing prosperity, a close observer might discern the distant approach of a tempest. Maximian and Galerius were both inveterately hostile to the Christian faith, while the zeal and jealousy of the polytheists were alarmed at its rapid progress. They clung more closely to the religion of their ancestors when they saw it menaced with destruction, and the new philosophy, which had based itself on the ancient supersti- tion, inspired its professors with hatred for its enemies and opponents. The philosophers saw plainly that by reasoning and eloquence alone its sinking cause could not be main- tained, and that its only resource was the employment of violent measures. We therefore find that the philosophers were the directors of the subsequent persecution, and the chief suggestors of the means for giving it efficacy. Galerius passed the winter after the conclusion of the Persian war at Nicomedia ; and during that period he had frequent conferences with Diocletian on the subject of Chris- tianity. He represented to the emperor how utterly incom- patible it was with the ancient institutions of the state, forming, as it did, an empire within the empire, all whose members were regularly organized, and ready to act at any time as one man. Diocletian confessed that he saw the danser, and agreed to exclude the Christians from offices in the army and the palace; but he expressed his disinclination to shed iheir blood, as not merely cruel, but impolitic. Ga- lerius, not content, prevailed on him to summon a council of the principal civil and military officers, to take the impor- tant matter into consideration ; and the council, when it met, seconded the views of the Caesar, into whose hands the reins of power were likely soon to fall. Diocletian, we may suppose, yielded to the arguments that were employed, as a man of superior mind does when he gives way to his inferi- ors in intellect, foreseeing the consequences, but unable to prevent them. A system of persecution was therefore pro- jected, and preparations were made for carrying it into effect. A. D. 303.] PERSECUTION OF THE CHURCH. From a motive probably of superstition, the day of the Terminalia, or festival of Teriiiinus, the god of boundaries, (Feb. 23,) was fixed for that of commencing to set limits to the inroads made on the ancient faith of Rome. At dawn on that day, (303,) the prjctorian prefect, accompanied by some of tlie higher officers of the army and the revenue, pro- ceeded to the principal church of Nicomedia. The doors were broken open, the lioly book? were taken out and com- mitted to the flames, and the sacred edifice was demolished. Next day, (24th,) an edict was published, ordering the demolition of all the churches throughout the empire, and forbidding any secret religious assemblies to be held; the bishops and presbyters were commanded to deliver up the sacred books to the magistrates, by whom they were to be burnt, and all tlie property of the church was declared to be confiscate. Christians were pronounced incipable of holding any office, and Christian slaves were excluded from the boon of manumission. The judges might determine any action brought against a Cliristian, but no legal remedy was granted to the Christian when the object of injury. The whole Christian body was thus degraded, robbed of its pub- lic property, and put without the pale of the law ; but the persecution still stopped short of blood. This edict was, in the usual manner, exposed to public view. But it had scarcely been displayed, when a zealous Christian tore it down, uttering invectives against its au- thors. His offence was treason ; and he expiated it with his life, being burnt at a slow fire. In the course of the fol- lowing fortnight, flames burst out twice in the palace ; and, as it was clear that they were not accidental, they were ascribed to the vengeance of the Christians, by whose wri- ters the guilt is transferred to Galerius, who thus, they say, sought to irritate Diocletian against them. Whatever was the truth, the effect which Galerius desired was produced on the emperor's mind. The imperial eunuchs were tortured and put to death with circumstances of the utmost barbarity. Anthemus, the bishop of Nicomedia, was beheaded, and several of his flock perished at the same time. A series of cruel edicts succeeded. By one, the gov- ernors of provinces were ordered to cast all the Christian ecclesiastics into prison ; by a second, they were enjoined to employ every kind of severity in order to make them aban- don their superstition, and sacrifice to the gods; by a third, LL 298 DIOCLETIAN, MAXIMIAN. [a. D. 304 (304,) the magistrates were commanded to force all Chris- tians, without distinction of age or sex, to sacrifice to the gods, and to employ every kind of torture for that purpose. The issuing of this edict was one of the last public acts of Diocletian, as his resignation took place in the course of the year. The efforts of Diocletian and Galerius were seconded by Maximian, who hated the Christians; and the persecution raged in Italy and Africa as in the East; but the mild Con- stantius protected the persons of his Christian subjects, though he found it necessary to consent to the demolition of their churches. The entire duration of the persecution was ten years, (303 — 313;) it was more or less violent in different times and places, and according to the characters and political circumstances of the princes. On the part of the persecutors, every refinement of barbarity was practised ; on that of the persecuted, there was an abundant display of zeal and courage, though in many cases adulterated with fanaticism. At the same time, there were many, even bish- ops and presbyters, who gained the opprobrious title of Tra- ditors, by delivering the sacred Scriptures into the hands of the heathen. From the vague language employed by the ecclesiastical writers, it is difficult to form any clear idea of the number of those who suffered martyrdom in the space of these ten years. Gibbon estimates it at two thousand per- sons ; but his prejudices would lead him to put it at the lowest possible amount. Supposing it, however, to be five, or even ten times that number, it would still be far short of that of the victims in any one of the religious massacres perpetrated by the church of Rome. A. D. 304-306.] GALERIUS, CONSTANTIUS. 299 CHAPTER II.* GALERIUS, CONSTANTIUS, SEVERUS, MAX- ENTIUS, MAXIMIAN, LICINIUS, MAXIMIN, CONSTANTINE. A. u. 1057—1090. A. D. 304—337. THE EMPERORS AND CAESARS. CONSTANTINE. MAXENTIUS. FATE OF MAXIMIAN. WAR BETWEEN CONSTANTINE AND MAXENTIUS. CONSTANTINE AND LICINIUS. CONSTAN- TINE SOLE EMPEROR. CONSTANTINOPLE FOUNDED. HIE- RARCHY OF THE STATE. THE ARMY. THE GREAT OFFI- CERS. CONVERSION OF CONSTANTINE. DEATHS OF CRIS- PUS AND FAUSTA. THE IMPERIAL FAMILY. WAR WITH THE GOTHS. DEATH AND CHARACTER OF CONSTANTINE. Galerius and Constantius. A. u. 1058—1059. A. D. 305—306. The task of appointing Caesars, in the place of himself and Constantius, was assumed by the haughty Galerius. For his own associate he selected his nephew Daza or Maximin, and an Illyrian, named Severus, was appointed to the same dignity under Constantius ; the government of Egypt and Syria was committed to Maximin ; that of Italy and Africa, to Severus. Little more than a year elapsed after the retirement of Diocletian, when events occurred which proved the futility of his plan for governing the Roman world by emperors, with subordinate Ccesars. The first took place on the occa- sion of the death of Constantius, who expired at York, on the 25th of July, 306. According to the rule established by Diocletian, Severus should have become the Augustus, and a new Csesar have been appointed ; but the soldiers of the army of Britain insisted that the eldest son of the de- ceased emperor should succeed to his rank and power. This son was Constantine, afterwards so renowned. His mother, * Authorities : Zosimus, the Epitomators and Panegyrists, Lactan- tius, Eusebius, and the Ecclesiastical Historians. 300 GALERIUS, CONSTANTINE, ETC. [a. D. 306. named Helena, was the daughter of an innkeeper ; and Con- stantius had been obliged to divorce her on the occasion of his elevation to the rank of Caesar. Constantine, who was then about eighteen years of age, engaged in the service of Diocletian, and distinguished himself in the Egyptian and Persian wars. He rose to high rank in the army ; his ap- pearance, manners, and qualities were such as were sure to win the favor of the people and the soldiery, and Gale- rius, when emperor, marked him out as the object of his jealousy. Alarmed at the dangers to which he knew him to be exposed, Constantius earnestly besought of Galerius to allow his son to repair to him. After many delays, that em- peror gave a reluctant consent ; and Constantine, fearful of treachery, travelled with the utmost speed, and joined his father as he was embarking for Britain. There caji be no doubt that the succession was not the mere spontaneous offer of the soldiery, and that Constantine had employed the usual artifices, and made the usual promises, on this occasion ; for, in fact, his only safety now lay in empire. He, howev- er, affected a decent degree of reluctance; and he wrote to Galerius, excusing himself for what had occurred. The first emotions of the emperor were those of surprise and fury ; but, on calm reflection, he saw the danger of a contest witfi the hardy legions of the West, and he consented to allow Constantine a share of the imperial power, giving him, how- ever, only the humbler title of Caesar, while he conferred the vacant dignity of Augustus on Severus. Satisfied with the substance of power, Constantine was careless of titles; he de- voted himself to the improvement of his dominions, and he discharged the duties of an affectionate brother to his six half-brothers and sisters, whom his father, when dying, had committed to his care. Galerius, Constantine^ Maxcntius, Licinius* A. u. 1059—1066. A. D. 306—313. The next event which proved the instability of the new form of government, commenced with an insurrection at Rome. From the time of the conquest of Macedonia, a period of nearly five centuries, the people of Rome had been * We only nipntion here the principal emperors. A.D. 307.] GALERIUS, CONSTANTINE, ETC. / 301 free from all direct taxes ; but now, in conformity with the new principles of government, Galerius prepared to^ impose a uniform property and capitation tax on the whole empire ; and, as no exemptions were to be allowed, the officers of the revenue began to make a list of the property and persons of the inhabitants of the capital. At the same time, directions were given for the removal of the praetorian cohorts from the city, and for the demolition of their camp. The pride of the soldiers, the self-interest of the citizens, caused them to unite in the determination of liberating Italy, and electing a native emperor. They cast their eyes on Maxentius, the son of Maxiuiian, and son-in-law of Galerius, a young man of neither talents nor virtue, who was then residing in a villa near the city. He readily yielded to their desires; the pre- fect of the city, and a \h\v other officers, were massacred, and Maxentius was invested with the purple. Severus, who was at Milan, prepared to march against the rebels, who, on their part, invited Maximian to quit his retreat, and give them the advantage of his name and his experience ; and the old emperor, who may have had a greater share in the pre- vious transactions than is commonly supposed, lost no time in repairing to Rome. He there reassumed the purple, and his influence and authority caused numerous defections to take place in the army of Severus, when that prince appeared before the walls of the city. Severus found it, therefore, necessary to retire, and to shut himself up in Ravenna, where, as the works were strong, and his fleet commanded the sea, he might easily have maintained himself till Galerius should come to his relief Deceived, however, by the arti- fices of Maximian, he laid down his dignity, and surrendered himself on the promise of his life being secured. He was at first treated with respect ; but when Galerius invaded Italy, the captive emperor was put to death. Constantine, at the head of the Gallic legions, had it evi- dently in his power to confirm or to overthrow the dominion of the new emperors. To win him over, Maximian under- took a journey to Gaul, and, by giving him in marriage his daughter Fausta, and conferring on him the dignity of Au- gustus, he secured his neutrality, if not his active coopera- tion. Galerius soon appeared in Italy, at the head of the troops of Illyricum and the East, and advanced to Narni, within sixty miles of Rome, whence he sent two of his prin- cipal officers to try to induce Maxentius to trust to his gen- erosity, rather than to risk the hazard of war. His offers CONTIN. 26 302 GALERIUS, CONSTANTINE, ETC. [a. D. 307-31 1. were spurned at ; and so large a number of liis men were gained over by Maximian, that he was obliged to make a rapid retreat, and his troops, on their route, devastated the country in the most merciless manner. Some time after, (307,) Galerius conferred the dignity of Augustus on his early and constant friend Licinius ; and, when the account of this elevation reached Maximin, he caused himself to be saluted emperor by his troops. Galerius found it necessary to acquiesce in his assumption, and the Roman world thus was ruled by six emperors at the same time. A preeminence was, however, tacitly conceded to Maximian and Galerius by their respective coemperors. Maximian and his son were too opposite in character to remain long at unity. One or other, it was found, must re- sign the supreme power in Italy ; and, the praetorian guards having decided in favor of Maxentius, under whom they ex- pected to enjoy more license, the aged emperor was obliged to seek a refuge with his son-in-law in Gaul. By Constan- tine he was received with every mark of respect; and, as the restless temper of the Franks required his own frequent presence on the Lower Rhine, in the periods of his absence, he committed the government of southern Gaul to his father- in-law. The abode of Maximian was at the palace of Aries; and, when one time (310) a report was spread of the death of Constantine, who was carrying on war beyond the Rhine, the restless old man seized the royal treasures and distributed them among the soldiers, in the hope of being saluted by them sole emperor. As soon as intelligence of his proceed- ings reached Constantine, he made a rapid march from the Rhine to Chalons, on the Saone, embarked his troops on that river, and thence entering the Rhone at Lyons, arrived at Aries before his departure from the Rhine was known. Maximian escaped from that city, and took refuge at Mar- seilles : he was pursued thither l)y Constantine, to whom he was delivered up by the garrison ; and he was either put to death or ordered to terminate his life by his own hand.* Galerius did not long survive Maximian. He died the following year, (311,) of the same odious disease as the great * Vict. Epit. xl. 5. Eutrop. x. 4. According to Lactantius, (De M. P. 29, 30,) his life vv.is spared on this occasion ; but, liaving after- wards conspired against Constantine, and killed a chamberlain in his stead, he was secretly strangled. Eutnenius, however, says, (Pane- gyr. ix. 20,) "sibi iniputat quisquis uti noliiit beneticio tuo [Constan- tine] nee 86 dignum vita judicavit cum per te hccat ut viveret." A. D. 312.] CIVIL WAR. / 303 dictator Sulla. Licinius and Maximin immediately prepared to decide by arms tlie possession of his dominions; but they were finnlly induced to accommodate their dispute by treaty, and divide the disputed territories, and the Hellespont and Bosporus became the boundary of their respective domin- ions. A sense of common interest soon united Licinius and Constantine, and a secret alliance was formed between Maxi- min and Maxentius. The contrast between the administration of Constantine and that of Maxentius was of the most striking character. In Gaul and Britain justice was carefully administered, op- pressive taxes were abolished or lightened, tlie inroads of the barbarians were checked. In Italy and Africa the wealthy were plundered or put to death, the virtue of their wives and daughters was exposed to the lust of a brutal tyrant, the soldiers were indulged in every species of license. During six years Rome groaned beneath the tyranny of its emperor, when at length (312) his own folly gave occasion to its de- liverance. Though Maximian had been driven from Italy by his un- worthy son, his death was made the occasion of a display of filial piety, and the statues of Constantine in Italy and Africa were cast down by the orders of Maxentius. Constantine, who was adverse to war, tried the effect of negotiation ; but finding that Maxentius, who openly claimed the empire of the West, had assembled a large army for the invasion of Gaul, he resolved to anticipate him and enter Italy, whither he was secretly invited by the senate and people of Rome. At the head of about 40,000 veteran troops, he crossed the Alps* and descended into the plain of Piedmont, (;U2.) The troops of Maxentius numbered 170,000 foot and 18,000 horse ; but they were chiefly raw levies, made in Africa, Italy, and Sicily, and Maxentius himself was utterly destitute of mili- tary talent or experience. The town of Susa, {Scgusittm,) at the foot of the Alps, closed its gates against Constantine ; but it was taken by assault, and the greater part of the gar- rison slaughtered. On the plain of Turin a strong division of the army of Maxentius opposed the invaders. Its strength consisted in a large body of cavalry arrayed in full armor, after the manner of the Persians.! But the force of this * The Cottian Alps, or Mount Cenis. t Called by the Greeks Cataphracts, by the Latins Clibanarians, from the Persian word. They resembled the heavy cavalry of the middle ages, both horse and man being covered with armor. 304 GALERIUSj CONSTANTINE, ETC. [a. D. 312. formidable mass was rendered of no avail by the skill of Constantine, who made his troops break their line and allow it to pass through when it charged, and then close and at- tack it when broken and divided. The troops of Maxentius soon turned and fled; and as the gates of Turin were closed against them, few of them escaped the sword of the victors. Constantine proceeded without delay to Milan; and nearly all Italy north of the Po declared for his cause. A brave and skilful othcer, named Ruricius Pompeianus, commanded at Verona for Maxentius. As Constantine was advancing against that city, he was encountered, near Bres- cia, by a large body of cavalry, detached from the army at Verona ; but he drove it back with loss, and then sat down before the city. Ruricius, having made all the dispositions necessary for defence, secretly quitted the town, and, having with great rapidity collected a sufficient force, advanced to its relief Constantine drew out his army to give him battle. The engagement commenced in the evening, and was con- tinued through the night Victory finally declared for the Gallic legions; Ruricius was among the slain, and Verona surrendered at discretion. After a short stay at that city, Constantine directed his march for Rome. At a place named Saxa Rubra, about nine miles from the city, close by the memorable Cremera, he found (Oct. 28) the army of Maxentius prepared to give him battle. In person, at the head of his Gallic horse, he charged the cavalry of the ene- my and routed it; the greater part of the infantry then turned and fled, but the brave praetorian cohorts fought and fell where they stood. In the flight, Maxentius fell from the Mulvian bridge into the Tiber, and was drowned. His body was found next day, and his head preceded the entrance of Constantine into the city. Constantine used his victory with sufficient moderation. The children of Maxentius and his most distinguished ad- herents were put to death ; but the demand of the people for a greater number of victims was steadily rejected. Inform- ers were punished ; the exiles were recalled and restored to their estates ; a general amnesty was passed ; the senate was treated with respect and consideration. At the same time, Constantine carried into effect the very measures, the appre- hension of which had raised Maxentius to empire. The praetorian guards were broken and dispersed among the legions on the frontiers, and their fortified camp was demol- ished. The property tax, which Galerius had projected, and A.D. 313.] CONSTANTINE, LICINIUS. 305 which Maxentius had levied, under the odious name of a free-gift, was made perpetual on the senatorian order, whoss number, apparently for this very purpose, was considerably augmented. Constantine and Licinius. A.u. 1066—1076. A.D. 313—323. Constantine remained only two months at Rome, being obliged to set out on his return for Gaul, where the Franks had renewed their incursions. On his way, he celebrated at Milan (313) the nuptials of his sister Constantia with Licin- ius, to whom he had betrothed her previous to the war with Maxentius. Inmnediately after the nuptial festival, the two emperors had to put themselves at the head of their troops; the one to chastise the Germans, and the other to oppose Maximin, who had crossed the Bosporus, and taken the cities of Byzantium and Heraclea. When Licinius arrived, with 30,000 Illyrian veterans, within eighteen miles of this last town, he found his rival supported by 70,000 men of the dis- ciplined troops of the East. Each having vainly tried to seduce the soldiers of the other, they led their forces out to battle, (April 30.) The advantage was at first on the side of numbers; but the European troops, directed by the military skill of their leader, soon asserted their wonted superiority, and a decisive victory crowned their efforts. Maximin fled with the utmost rapidity, never halting till he reached Nico- media, distant a hundred and sixty miles from the field of battle. He was on his way to Egypt about three months after ; when at Tarsus, he despaired of his affairs, and took poison, of which he died after much suffering. Licinius used his victory with barbarity. Resolved to remove all pos- sibility of rival claims to the empire of the East, he not only put to death the son and daughter of Maximin, the former of whom was only eight, the latter only seven years of age, but he involved in their fate Severianus, the son of the late emperor Severus, and Candidianus, the natural son of his friend and benefactor Galerius. But his treatment of the wife and daughter of Diocletian was still more conclusive of the innate inhumanity of his character. After the death of Galerius, Maximin had sought the hand of Valeria. Meeting with a firm refusal, the tyrant 26 * MM 306 CONSTA.NTINE, LICINIUS. [a. D. 314. gave a loose to his rage ; he confiscated her property ; he put to the torture her eunuchs and servants; he executed some of her female friends, on Mse charges of adultery ; and he condemned herself and her mother, Prisca, to exile in a Syr- ian village. Diocletian sought for permission for them to join him at Salona ; but he was now powerless, and his appli- cation met with contemptuous neglect. On the death of Maximin, the two royal ladies proceeded in disguise to the court of Licinius. They were at first treated with kindness; but the execution of her adopted son, Candidianus, who had accompanied her thither, soon convinced Valeria that the tyrant only was changed, and she and her mother fled in a plebeian habit. After wandering about for fifteen months, they were discovered at Thessalonica, and were instantly beheaded, and their bodies thrown into the sea. The number of the emperors was now reduced to two; and it might be supposed that, connected as they had been, both publicly and privately, they would remain at unity. Yet the very year after their becoming brothers-in-law, (314,) we find them drawing the sword against each other. The oc- casion was as follows : Constantine gave one of his sisters in marriage to a man of rank named Bas.sianus, whom he raised, with Licinius's consent, to the dignity of a Csesar. Italy appears to have been destined for the new Ca;sar ; but, some delay occurring in the appointment, Licinius secretly induced him to believe that Constantine was merely making a tool of him, and encouraged him to engage in a conspiracy against his benefactor. The plot was, however, speedily discovered; Bassianus was put to death; and as Licinius refused to give up one of the principal conspirators, who had fled to him, and as the statues of Constantine, in the town of yEmona, on the frontiers of Italy, had been thrown down, the empe- ror of the West entered Illyricuin at the head of 20,000 men. Licinius, with 35,000 men, advanced to oppose him. The armies encountered (Oct. 8) near Cibalis on the Save, about fifty miles from Sirmium. The engagement lasted from morning till night, when Licinius retired with a loss of 20,000 men. He hastened to Sirmium to secure his family and treasures, and then, breaking down the bridge over the Save at that town, he proceeded to Thrace to collect a new army; and he conferred the title of Cnesar on Valens, the general of the Illyrian frontier. Constantine made no delay in following him, and the emperors again measured their strength on the plain of Mardia in Thrace. The battle A. D. 314-323.] CIVIL WAR. / 307 lasted all through the day, and was terminated by tfie night. The victory remained with Constaiitine, but with po nmch loss as inclined him to listen to proposals for pe^ce. He made the deposition of Valens an absolute condition; and, that luckless prince being deprived of his purple and his life, a treaty was concluded which gave Paiuionia, Dalmatia, Dacia, Macedonia, and Greece, to the Western empire. It was also agreed that two of the sons of the Western empe- ror, and the one son of the Eastern monarch, should be raised to the rank of Ca3sars. Peace now continued for above eight years. During that time, Constantine was enjTased either in beneficial legislation or in defending the frontiers of his empire. His principal war, which he conducted in person, was against the Goths, who (321) invaded the countries south of the Danube. He forced them to purchase a retreat by the surrender of their booty and prisoners ; and then, repairing the bridge of Tra- jan, he crossed the river, and carried the war into their own country. No longer satisfied with the possession of the larger portion of the Roman empire, he now aimed at wrest- ing the remainder from Licinius. His preparations for war did not escape the observation of that emperor, who forth- with (323) assembled troops and shipping from all parts of his dominions. An army of 150,000 foot and 1-5,000 horse covered the plains of Hadrianople, and a fleet of three hundred and fifty triremes occupied the Hellespont. The troops of Constantine (120,000 horse and foot) rendezvoused at Thessalonica ; his fleet, which numbered only two hun- dred small vessels, was assembled in the port of the Pir^teus. Licinius, who occupied a strong camp on a hill over Hadri- anople, did not oppose the passage of the Hebrus by the enemy. The accounts of the engagement which ensued (July 3) are scanty and confused ; but it would appear that the veteran troops of the West, evincing their wonted supe- riority, won their way up the hill, and routed the forces of the East, slaying 34,000 men, and taking their fortified camp. Constantine, who displayed the valor of a soldier and the conduct of a general, received a wound in the thigh : Licinius fled, and shut himself up in Byzantium, whither he was speedily followed by his victorious rival. Constantine directed that his fleet, which was commanded by his eldest son, the Caesar Crispus, should advance and force the passage of the Hellespont. His admirals selected eighty of their best ships for the purpose : the opposite 308 CONSTANTINE, LICINIUS. [a. D. 323. admiral, Amandus, opposed them with two hundred. As the narrow sea did not afford sufficient space for tlie evolu- tions of so large a number, the advantage, when night terminated the conflict, was on the side of Constantine. Next day, Amandus sailed over from the coast of Asia, the wind blowing strongly from the north ; but, finding the enemy, who lay at EIobus, reenforced by thirty ships, he hesitated to attack. About noon, the wind changed, and blew so violently from the south, that it drove on the rocks or the shore a hundred and thirty ships of the fleet of Licinius, and caused a loss of 5,000 men. Amandus fled with only four ships ; and, the Hellespont being now open, provisions and supplies of all kinds flowed into the camp of Constantine before Byzantium, and Licinius, deeming that city no longer tenable, passed over with his friends and his treasures to Chalcedon. He there conferred the fatal dignity of Caesar on Martianus, the principal officer of his palace, and sent him to Lampsacus, to guard the passage of the Hellespont. He himself speedily assembled another ar- my, to oppose the landing of Constantine. That able prince, however, conveyed over a sufficient force in boats, and landed about two hundred stades (twenty-five miles) above Chalce- don. Licinius recalled Martianus with his troops, and an engagement was fought (Sept. 18) on the heights of Chry- sopolis, [Scu/nri,) which ended in the total defeat of Licinius, with a loss of 25,000 men. He fled to Nicomedia ; nego- tiations were entered into; and Constantine, having given the assurance of his solemn oath to his sister for the security of her husband's life, Licinius laid his purple down at his feet, styling him his king and master. He was admitted to the royal table, and was then sent to Thessalonica, which was fixed on as the place of his residence ; Martianus was put to death, and two years after, on the charge of a con- spiracy, Licinius was strangled, in violation of the emperor's most solemn engagement. Constantine. A. u. 1076—1090. A. D. 323—337. The Roman empire was thus, after thirty-four years of divided dominion, reunited under one head. Two most im- portant changes immediately succeeded, namely, the founda- FOUNDATION OF CONSTANTINOPi|e. 309 tion of a new capital, and the public estahlishinent of Cliristianity as the reliajiou of the state; the form of govern- ment commenced by Diocletian was also completed. Of these we shall now proceed to treat. Rome, as we have seen, had long ceased to be an imperial residence. It lay too remote from the banks of the Dan- ube and Euphrates, where the presence of the emperor was most frequently required : Diocletian had therefore fixed his abode in Nicomedia; but the ambition of being the founder of a capital which should bear his own name, and the supe- rior advantages of the site of Byzantium, determined Con- stantine to raise an imperial city on the peninsula occupied by that town ; and in the year following that of the over- throw of Licinius, (3-^4, ) he laid the foundation of Con- stantinople, as he named it from himself — a city which still exists, and in magnitude and population yields to few in Europe, while in beauty and advantage of situation it is rivalled by none. It is not necessary that we should describe the situation of this celebrated city, which, like Rome, built on seven hills, grew up from the condition of a colony, and became the capital of empire. In the space of ten years, the nu- merous workmen employed, by the wealth of the imperial treasury, covered the ground marked out by the founder with all the edifices, sacred, profane, and military, required by a magnificent capital ; and the new city was speedily filled with a numerous population. In imitation of Rome, it was divided v,nto fourteen regions or wards, and the corn of Egypt was distributed among its poorer citizens; its Hip- podrome emulated the Circus, and statues of marble and bronze were brought from all parts to adorn it. The supe- rior rank of the ancient capital, however, was still acknowl- edged, and the new city was styled its colony. The civil and military administration of the empire had, as may have been observed, been gradually undergoing a change, and approximating to that of the East. That change was further accelerated by the removal of the seat of government to the new capital, and by the establishment of the prevalent corrupted form of Christianity as the religion of the state. The aspect of the empire under Constantine and his successors may be sketched as follows : * * We here shall follow Gibbon, who derived his materials from the Theodosian Code and the JVotitia Imperii. 310 CONSTANTINE. The court and palace were filled with officers, among whom the eunuchs were conspicuous ; they were arranged in orders, the whole forming a sacred hierarchy, as it was often styled. All the various ranks were regulated with the most accurate minuteness, and the numerous titles and modes of address which have been the models of those of modern Europe, were then devised : such were, Your Eini- nence, Your Excellency, Your illustrious and magnifcent Highness. The great officers had various badges and em- blems of their dignities, and were known by their peculiar habits. The whole body of the higher officers and magis- trates were divided into three classes; the first, which con- tained the very highest, being named the Illustrious, the second the Notable, {Spectahiles,) and the third the Most Distinguished, (Clarissimi.)* The title of Patrician, which had long been out of use, was revived by Constantine, but merely as a mark of per- sonal distinction. The dignity was not hereditary, and these new nobles bore no more resemblance to the patricians of ancient Rome than the actual peers of France do to the old noblesse. The patricians yielded in dignity to the con- suls alone ; they were superior to all the great officers of state, and had constant access to the person of the sovereign, whose favorites or ministers they had in general been ori- ginally. The consulate, now an empty dignity, was conferred by the emperor. On new year's day, the appointed consuls assumed the ensigns of their dignity at the place which was then the imperial residence. They moved in procession, attended by the principal officers of the state and army, from the palace to the P^orum, or market-place: they there took their seat on the curule chairs, and manumitted a slave, according to ancient usage. Games were celebrated by them, or in their name, in the principal cities of the empire ; their names were inscribed in the Fasti, and their names and portraits were engraved on tablets of ivory, adorned with gold, and sent as presents to magistrates and persons of rank. They then retired into private life, for they had no public duties to discharge. Yet the vain and emp- ty honor still continued to be the object of highest am- bition. * An Itfilian, at the present day, will commence a letter with Chia- rissimo 8iiastical History, he is silent respecting it. Another contemporary mentions only a dream, in which Constantine was directed, on tlie night before the battle with Maxentius, to inscribe the sacred monogram on the shields of his sol- diers ; and adds, that his obedience was rewarded with vic- tory.* We take not on us to decide how much of fiction or of error there may be in the legend ; but that no actual miracle was wrought, we venture to affirm without hesitation, in accordance with our fixed opinions on the subject. We now return to the course of our historic narrative. A dark transaction, which has fixed an indelible stain on the memory of Constantine, is the first that meets our view. We have already seen that, before his marriage with the daugh- ter of Maximian, he had had a son by his first wife. This youth, named Crispus, was reared under the charge of the pious, learned, and eloquent Lactantius. Christian writers and historians are unanimous in the testimony which they bear to the virtues of the heir-apparent to the empire. It is possible that, as is asserted, Crispus may have been jealous of the partiality shown by the emperor to the children of his second marriage, one of whom, Constantius, had been sent, with the title of Ca;sar, to administer the government of Gaul, while he himself was detained in inactivity at court. He may also, as is said, have given vent to his feelings in imprudent language; and anyone at all acquainted with the texture of courts in general, can easily suppose that, in the palace of a despotic prince, there was no lack of wretches who would seek to advance their own interest by exciting enmity between the father and the son. An edict of Con- stantine's, issued toward the end of the year 32.5, shows that he believed or feigned that a secret conspiracy had been formed against him, and in favor of Crispus. Whatever his suspi- cions of his son, or his designs against him, may have been, they were closely concealed ; and Crispus, in the following year, (32f),) accompanied his fiither to Rome, when he pro- ceeded thither to celebrate the twentieth year of his reign. Tn the midst of the festival, the prince was arrested ; after a short private examination, or possibly no examination at all, * The author of the treatise Ht Mortibus Persecutorum. 316 CONSTANTINE. [a. D. 326. he was sent, under a strong guard, to Pola in Istria, where, shortly after, he was put to deatli by poison, or by the hand of the executioner. Bis fate was shared by the son of the late emperor Licinius. When a biographer passes in silence over any important action of his hero, we may be certain that a minute and exact inquiry, and a sifting of all the circumstances, has convinced him that it is incapable of bearing exposure to the liglit, and that no ingenuity can avail to extenuate, much less excuse it. On this principle, we hold the profound silence of Eusebius on this mysterious transaction to be conclusive of the guilt of Constantine and the innocence of Crispus ; and, at the same time, destructive of that prelate's claim to truth and integrity as an historian. The later Greeks, however, have fabled that Constantine discovered his error, mourned and repented it, and erected a golden statue bearing the inscription, Tu my son, tchom I U7ijustly condemned. A more ancient account said, that the story of Phaedra and Hippolytus was renewed in the imperial palace, and that the death of Crispus was caused by the dis- appointed lust of Fausta. It is added, that the emperor's mother, Helena, enraged at the fate of her innocent grand- son, caused Fausta to be closely watched ; and, it being discovered that she carried on an adulterous intercourse with a slave belonsin^ to the stables, she was suffocated, by order of her husband, in a bath, made more than usually hot for the purpose.* The deaths of Crispus, Licinius, and Fausta, were followed by those of many of the emperor's friends, on various charges. By Fausta the emperor had had three sons, named Con- stantine, Constantius, and Constans ; his elder brother, Ju- lius Constantius, had, beside other children, two sons, named Gallus and Julian ; and Dalmatius, another brother, was the father of two princes, Dalmatius and Hannibalianus. From sorn-e motive which has not been assigned, Constantine re- solved to associate the two last-named nephews with his own sons in the empire, placing the former, as a Cajsar, on an equality with them, and giving the latter the new title of Nobilissimus, and even, as it would appear, that of King, which we find used of him alone. A war between the Goths and Sarmatians drew the atten- * Zosimus, Philostorgius, and others, assort that Fansta was put to deatli. Yi't, as Git)b;iioc.) whence our word Hermit; ^vux(i<())jtui, retircrs. The gen- eral term was A]utuj(ol, solitaries, whence our Monk. STATE OF MORALS. 395 great Athanasius.* The Eremites, on the contrary, dwelt solitary in caves or in wretched cottages of the desert; while the Anachorites, rejecting even this faint semblance of hu- manity, lived like the beasts of the field, wandering without certain abode, lying down wherever night overtook them, and feeding on the spontaneous produce of the earth, shun- ning the sight and the society of all human beings. The most distinguished of the Eremites was Paul, a recluse of the Thebai's, a kind of semi-savage, whose life and acts St. Jerome did not think it beneath him to record as an ensam- ple of true Christian holiness and perfection. Beside the above-mentioned classes of ascetics, we read of an order named in Egypt Sarabaites, who travelled about from place to place, working fictitious miracles, selling false relics, and performing various other frauds to deceive the credulous multitude. These, like the corresponding Mohammedan dervishes, were mostly notorious profligates : heavy com- plaints are made also of the Ca3nobites; but the hermits were in general mere fanatics or spiritual madmen. The hope of acquiring heaven by virginity and mortifica- tion was not confined to the male sex; woman, with the en- thusiasm and the devotional tendency peculiar to her, rushed eagerly toward the crown of glory. Nunneries became nu- merous, and were thronged with inmates. Nature, however, not unfrequently asserted her rights, and the complaints and admonitions of the most celebrated Fathers assure us that the unnatural state of vowed celibacy was productive of the same evils and scandals in ancient as in modern times. The state of morals among Christians in general was, according to the testimony of the contemporary Fathers and other writers, extremely low. " When," says the writer already quoted, " we cast an eye toward the lives and morals of Christians at this time, we find, as formerly, a mixture of good and evil, some eminent for their piety, others infamous for their crimes. The number, however, of immoral and unworthy Christians began so to increase, that the examples of real piety and virtue became extremely rare. When the terrors of persecution were totally dispelled ; when the church, secured from the efforts of its enemies, enjoyed the sweets of prosperity and peace; when the major part of bish- ops exhibited to their flock the cont